DumB BakeR

Dumb-Baker Close Down

2009-06-08T08:10:00.003+08:00

Dear all,

THANK YOU. Big Thank You for all the supports given for this humble blog of mine. I am regret to announce that dumb-baker will not longer be active from now on. To all avid bakers out there, i'm wishing you all the best and hope that all the humble information which i shared here in my blog did not disappoint you :) TO all other bloggers, thank you for all the kind words given here. Though i'm no longer blogging actively, but i'll be visiting your blogs very often.

Last but not least, I wish all of you nothing but the best coming days ahead ;)

Cheers,
Dumb-Baker

Thank You

2009-05-21T07:49:00.002+08:00

It's superbly amazing that one can experience a low moment of her life, but it can be a total opposite experience with just a lil booster from someone. Someone who can put a smile on her face though she's going through a hard time. Someone who never fail to listen to her when she needed to rant. Someone who she'll appreciate from now on. Thank you so much and you know who you are ;)

Untitled

2009-05-17T19:42:00.002+08:00

My heart broke. My dreams shattered. I'm looking forward to a new begining. Will you help me?

Steam Moist Cake

2009-05-01T22:51:00.003+08:00

Don't throw rotten eggs at me...sorry sorry...i know i did not update my blog that often. I was telling my cousin the other day, should i shut my blog as i can't afford to bake every weekend and blog about it. Well, she said "You can always blog about your family and friends...not necessary only your cakes and cookies"

But i won't live up to my blog name rite? DUmb Baker....suddenly DUmb Life...hahahahahha....ok folks...rest assured...I'm not going to shut my blog. No Worries, Be Happy :)

Happy Labour Day Everybody!

My family and relatives will be having a gathering makan tomorrow. Here's what I'm going to contribute. A Steam Chocolate Moist Cake. The recipe is adapted from http://cookingcrave.blogspot.com/2009/03/chocolate-moist-cake.html. The cake looks so yummy that you can eat it right from the screen. This website was actually recommended by my cousin Sue Sue.

Well, i have just finished steaming the cake, yet to top it with chocolate fudge topping. I shall post up the photo tomorrow and shall blog about the feedback from my family members tomorrow. Stay tune!

Bitching Post

2009-04-01T00:15:00.002+08:00

WARNING.....INTENSE USAGE OF VULGAR WORDS AHEAD!!

Fark! That's all i can say. Why are some idiots farking stubborn and practically low in EQ wanted to rule the earth with only piles of shitty thoughts in their mind? FARK!

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT STUPIDLY K! GOD CREATED BRAIN FOR YOU TO THINK!!!

YOU idiotic incorrigible bitch...fark off. I'm neither your punching bag nor your slave. DOn't spit your unsatisfactory to me as if i'm your saliva potty just because you got screwed by someone else. Screw me once, watch out. Screw me twice, i'll cut your tongue. Screw me thrice, you're dead.

Watch your back bitch...i keep my silence doesn't mean i am defeated by you. My tanker is on the way to crush your freaking body into pieces. I can be twice meaner than you. Period.

Pak Thong Kou

2009-03-30T07:55:00.006+08:00

The weekend was hot hot hot!!!!! I have never sweat this much in my entire life (well...except for the PE classes during primary and secondary school).

It's a good thing that the weather is warm...perfect condition for proofing the bread dough or whatever dough you wanna proof. I chose to make the authentic Chinese sweet dessert (or breakfast for me...hehe!)....the "PAK THONG KOU"

I remember vividly that my grandma used to buy this sweet cake for me every Sunday morning for breakfast. There used to be a van packed with all sorts of homemade Chinese sweet cake that goes around the neighborhood where i used to live. I never fail to shout for the driver to stop so that i can buy my favourite sweet cakes and fill up my little stomach...mmmm...yum yum....well..those were the days! Kids now don't get to experience the good old times we had been through....oh well...thanks to the ever rising crime rates!

Anyway, enuf said....here's the recipe...enjoy folks!

Ingredients:

220g rice flour
160g caster sugar
380-400ml of water
1 tsp of yeast
1 tbsp of warm water

Method

Mix the yeast and warm water and set aside. In a pot, mix the rice flour and sugar. Pour the water over the sugar and flour and stir continuously. Bring the pot over low fire and continue stirring for about 3 minutes. (DO NOT BOIL THE MIXTURE!!!!) Strain the mixture into a baking/steaming tray. Let the mixture cool down for a while. Stir in the earlier prepared yeast mixture. Cover the tray with cling wrap and keep the tray in a warm place (a microwave oven is a good place) for proofing process (about an hour for a hot weather like Malaysia....). When the mixture has bubbles surface, the mixture is ready for steaming. Steam the mixture over rapid boiling water for about 25 minutes. Leave the cake till completely cool before slicing it. Enjoy the sweet cake with a cup of hot green tea....yummmz!

Lemon Cream Cheese Cake

2009-03-24T09:16:00.004+08:00

Have you tried the Lemon Pound cake from Starbucks? It's absolutely delicious! It's just me again craving for rich cakes but with the current economic situation going downhill, i just can't bring myself to spend $$$ on cakes anymore. It's cheaper if you just bake them yourself. For anticipated bakers, this recipe is the one for you if you're looking for a rich lemoney cake.

Ingredients:

6 oz. of cream cheese, softened
150g of butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
Rinds of a lemon
Juice of a lemon
4 eggs
1 1/3 cup of flour
1.5 tsp of baking powder

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175 DC. Beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time and mix well. Scrap the sides of the mixing bowl from time to time. Add in lemon rinds and juice. Mix well. Lastly, add in flour and baking powder. Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean.

* I sprinkled some chopped almonds on the cake batter before baking it. It's yummy....crunchy on the surface and soft inside* =^=

Ha ha ha ha....

2009-03-23T21:44:00.002+08:00

....staying alive staying alive.....<-----adapted from Bee Gees Classic

Hi People....suhhhhhpliceee!!!!!! Flied Lice!!!

Okay not funny.....i'll be back tomorrow with some baked food photos....ya...i know...after the long hiatus rite? My bad...i'm busy + lazy + half dead......going down with the current economic flow.

So people...come back come back come back.....i'm back!!!! Stay tune for updates ya!

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (modified)

2009-02-11T15:45:00.004+08:00

Last Christmas, i had a surprise from my aunt who resides in Los Angeles. She handed me a rectangular box nicely wrapped with a Christmas Gift Wrapping paper. After saying thank you to her, the inner child personality in me urged me to quickly unwrap the gift. After the tearing and shredding of the wrapping paper, aha! This was what greeted me and left me smiling the whole night! OMG! Thank you so much auntie!!!

Last Monday was a public holiday for KL and Selangor. However i woke up extra early that day and thinking, hmm...bb is not picking me up for at least the next 5 hrs...why not bake a batch of cookies and offer some to next door neighbor (felt guilty coz they gave us some homemade CNY goodies but i remained lazy and did not bake anything for anybody). After 2 hours of enjoying my breakfast, i started baking the cookies.

I wanted some chocolate and something oaty. Found this recipe from the book that my aunt gave me. It was easy and ingredients were kept simple: butter, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, flour, melted chocolate, rolled oats and chocolate chips.

I do not have any cooking chocolate, hence i used the cocoa powder instead and i also replaced the chocolate chips with chopped Hershey chocolates. I also added a packet of almond nibbles into the cookie dough. 12 minutes after dropping the teaspoon size cookie doughs on the baking tray, i had my first batch of freshly baked chocolate oatmeal cookies. After cooling them down, i popped one of the cookies into my mouth. My my my....it was heavenly tasty. I'm sure my neighbors will luv it. True enough, the next day, my neighbor was commenting how tasty the cookies were and jokingly suggested that i can even sell a small container of the cookies for RM28 during CNY. Hmmm....probably that would be my side income for year 2010???? Oh well....if only i have the time.

I managed to get 4 full small tubs of chocolate oatmeal cookies that day. I gave a tub to my neighbor, a tub to my bb, a tub for my colleagues and a tub for myself and family.

Anyway, if you guys are interested, do check out the Amazon website for the recipe book. Meanwhile, i will try out a few more recipes and will randomly post some of the recipe which i think it's too good to just keep it to myself in this blog soon. So stay tune!!!

Marble Cheese Chocolate Cake

2009-02-11T15:27:00.005+08:00

I was confused. How am going I to name the product? Marble Cake? nope coz it contains cheese. Marble Cheese Cake? nope, coz it's not entirely a cheesecake per say. How about Marble Cheese Chocolate Cake? Ha! Yes..it gotta be this because it's a chocolate cake base but with some cheese for the marble effect.

My cousin and cousin sis in law invited my family for CNY open house party on Chor Mm (30th January 2009). They were way too generous as they invited all of my other relatives as well and food was solely sponsored by them. I felt shy..because i was not only eating, but i was taking money (ang pows) from them too. So i offered to bake a Cheese Brownie for them initially. My plan turned sour as at the very last minute, when i checked my kitchen's cabinet, i had only about 20 grams of cocoa powder left!!! Mom was suggesting me to replace cocoa powder with Milo instead...=.=

Mom....Cocoa powder is unsweetened....and Milo is too 'milky' for my recipe. SO i ransacked my recipe books....hoping to find something with cheese and something that can utilize the 20grams of cocoa powder. Ha! Found it! Anges Chang's Baking Made Easy book!

Verdict: Oh well...no one really gave me a comment...i did not eat a single slice of the cake because of my irritated throat...but i guess it was a good catch on that night because the cake was pretty much whacked by the entire Wei clan.

CNY Goodies

2009-02-11T12:04:00.001+08:00

GONG HEI FATT CHOI! CHOI YUN KWAN KWAN LOI! TAI KAT TAI LEI! SUN TAI KIN HONG!

Happy Chinese Moo Moo Year everybody! Did you guys have a yummylicious reunion dinner? An ultimate celebration on the 1st and 2nd day of new year? You guys sure did!

As for me, *sob sob*....I had watery porridge from Chor Yat till Chor Mm. How about that? It all started on the night of CNY eve. I felt a lump in my throat...but didn't give much thoughts to it. So after reunion dinner, i went over to my grandpa's house and continue munching on cookies. Half an hour later, my bb came and took me to his cousin's house to gamble. Heaty food + non stop yelling and shouting during gambling made me a sick dog for the next 5 days. I had throat infection, fever and voiceless.....! So lessons learnt, go slow on CNY cookies before the festive begins....don't greedily gobble down the food like me.

Anyway...sad stories finished....let's share what have i contributed for CNY. My fellow blogger friend, JenJen, has been writing a lot of CNY food posts. The minute i saw her homemade MOMO (melting moments), I just couldn't take it anymore. To the hell with my painful throat, i took out my 'ka chang' (ingredients & utensils) and start baking. You won't believe how easy it was to make the MOMOs. It took me slightly over an hour to make 2 containers of the MOMOs. And believed it or not, the MOMOs were gone in just a snap. It was so good and so addictive! Even better than those pineapple cookies! For avid fan of melt in mouth cookies, please click the link above...100% no regrets.

Next, please join to welcome the ultimate labour of pain but damn worth trying Horlick Layer cake. I've been longing to try out this recipe (courtesy of Jen Jen also) a year ago. However, lame excuses got in my way (weather too hot...will sweat a lot if i stand too long in front of the stove; i'm too fat now...maybe later;....bla bla bla bla) and so the day of making the layer cake postponed till this year's Chinese New Year. It wasn't hard to prepare...and it wasn't hard to make it either....it's the long steaming process that is making me go cuckoo....Hahaha....but like Jen said, the 4-5 hours labour of pain will not fail you. It's yummy, moist, no words to describe. The cake smells like coffee, taste like Horlick on the first bite, coffee on the second bite and gone into your stomach....it's so delicious that you just can't wait to dig in the next piece again and again.

Peppercorn Soup

2009-01-07T03:10:00.000+08:00

The ultimate thing i wanna experience in Pennsylvania during winter time is able to sweat. It's just too cold here and i hate it. I just luv being all hot and steamy and umm...no...it's not what you think...gotcha!

I was just craving for a hot soup one night....so i crept up into the kitchen and i found peppercorn!!!!!!! My bro has peppercorn in his kitchen!!!!!! Yay!!!!! * jumping up and down*

Without any hesitation, i defrosted 4 chicken drumsticks in the microwave oven, cleaned them and put them in a pot of boiling water. I added like 2 soup spoonful of peppercorn, 4 carrots (chop them in big chunks) half of a big onion and some chinese mushroom. Bring the soup to boil for like 10 minutes and lower the fire and let the soup continue bubbles for 2.5 hours. Add salt to taste....and tadaa....help yourself to a flaming hot bowl of peppercorn soup! Yummz....

New Year Breakfast

2009-01-03T14:13:00.004+08:00

I woke up one fine white morning...rubbed my eyes...and dang....it's snowing again here in Pennsylvania. And i have to give Mc Donald a miss. *silent for a minute*....okay...waking up on the first day of 2009 to a Mc Donald...?? Maybe not.

I actually took down a bag of beef from the freezer on New Year's day eve...you know...the weather here is so unpredictable...you just can't say...Oh...i'm going out for a meal tomorrow and ding ding ding...snow is on its way to ambush your plan. So i'm s.m.a.r.t. Okay i'm not. But i am. At least this time...keke!

I cut the beef in long thin strips....marinated with whatever i can get from my bro's apartment's kitchen's drawer...oh...i never know his kitchen's drawer is fully loaded with sauces!! I mean...a guy.....okay...let's not veer. So i marinated the beef with dark soy sauce, black pepper, Shiao Xing wine, lil light soy sauce and honey...lotsa them...mmmm..oh ya....i also added a dollop of butter...

An hour later, i lay the strips of beef on the baking tray...ungreased....and pop them in the oven at 350F for 20 minutes..don't over bake them...you don't wanna eat some tensed strips of beef...mm hmmm...

Tadaa!!!!!! See.....my first meal of year 2009. The beef was...mama mia! Luv them. I had them sandwiched between buttered toast topped with potato egg salad and some blanched french beans....first bite...oh gawd....just let me gulp all these without putting on a pound k...please will you??

Happy new year everybody! Mwahhh!

Bye bye 2008...Hello 2009

2008-12-29T19:24:00.002+08:00

The year of rat is coming to an end soon....well say hello to fellow cows!

How was my 2008....let's see:

1. I started a blog...unplanned...yeap. It was just this random day when i told my bb, "Eh b...i wanna share recipes with everybody...so i need a blog." This is what bb answered "Oh ya blog? good good good...keep you occupied and i don't need to worry so much about you feeling bored during weekends while i;m working..." =.=....gee....ya...he's my bb...

2. I had the opportunity to work travel. I had an awesome working experience...tenkiu boss!!!

3. I lost weight...and gained...and lost and gained....a typical woman in vain!

Yea that's it.....no wait....my bb!!! Die die oso must cerita a bit about us...hu hu hu!!!

2008 was a tough year for us. Why? Bb had spent an enormous amount of time on work. "Bb what's for dinner tonight ar?" "Err....u think la...i busy at work now"=.=
"Bb...wanna go watch this movie on saturday?" "Err....i might need to work wor...we confirm on the night before k gg?"

See what i mean. Aside from work, he, is a truly honestly....bestest guy in the world! He remembers every little random things that i like, he's the one who always waves the white flag whenever we argue (hehe...though 99% i'm at fault), he's the one who wipes off the chocolate fudge on the corner of my mouth, he's the only one who gives me tender hugs and kisses....and most importantly, my knees go weak and my heart skips a beat each time he says "I love you gg" up till today.

So here's my 2009 resolution:

1. Learn the 'give and take' philosophy and lessen the quick temper behaviour towards bb

2. Stop forcing bb to say "gg u r fatter and eat lesser"....(i know...i'm that sot sot dei)

3. Learn to make xiu long pao for bb!

4. Stop eating junkies and start eating proper meals (....oh god...please help me....make me hate cookies and chips...)

5. Work smart....yeap...tackle the idiots!

6. Change my kiddo wardrobe to a 25 year old woman's wardrobe....i really need to do this...i've been super kiam siap on my clothes and have been wearing the same old boring clothes for the last 3 years....i can spend Rm20 for a tiny box of cookies and but i am very reluctant to spend RM20 for a decent piece of cloth...haiz....

7. My ultimate 2009 resolution is to be able to achive a fat salary and start a family of my own soon!!! Yippie yay yay yippie yippie yay!

What's urs?

Sweet Potato Donuts

2008-12-27T23:10:00.002+08:00

Y’all know what….Krispy Kreme closed its business in most of the California areas….sux rite? They are doing so well when I was still studying here in the states in year 2003…but hmm…I guess the economy depression made a great impact to them.

I’m not sure what the next leading donut store is around and I won’t even bother trying them out…because Krispy Kreme is still the best!!!!!! Oh well, perhaps I should make some of our famous Malaysia’s donut for my aunty and cousins here in LA ya? Yeap…Kuih Keria it is!

Ingredients:

2 medium size sweet potatoes
About ¾ cup of flour
½ tsp baking soda
Some oil for frying

Method:
Steam the sweet potatoes till soft. Peel off the skin and mash them using a fork. Mix in flour and baking soda into the mashed sweet potatoes. Using your hand, mix them thoroughly till it forms a ball. Take a pinch of the dough and roll it between your palms. Flatten a little and make a hole in the middle of the dough with your index finger. Set the dough aside and continue with the remaining dough. Heat up a non stick pan with enough oil for frying. Fry the donuts till golden brown. Blot the excess oil with kitchen’s towel. Dust the surface of the donuts with castor sugar when it cools a little. Serve warm.

Low Fat Mango Cake

2008-12-19T14:54:00.002+08:00

Hi folks….

Welcome to dumb-baker’s 2008 first ever baked cake in LA. Guess what? Since I have put on a lil weight in just mere 6 days….which is total nightmare to me…but still craving for dessert (omg…I just gotta cease this stupid crave right now….otherwise I’ll be putting like what…20 pounds in a month?)…I cleverly came up with this low fat moist mango cake.

Why mango by the way? Coz it was on promotion in the food mart…99cents per piece. So I picked up the bright red piece (the juicy & ripe one)…and I’m all set to go home and begin the baking journey.

Here’s what you need:
¾ cup of apple sauce (no sugar added)
½ cup of brown sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
½ cup of mango puree
1/3 cup of cube mangoes

Method:
Mix apple sauce and sugar till dissolve. Add in the eggs, one at a time, into the apple sauce mixture. Blend in mango puree till well mixed. Sift in flour and baking powder into the wet mixture. Using a wooden spatula, mix the dry n wet ingredients till just well combined (do not over mix or risk having a flat damp cake). Stir in mango cubes and pour the batter into a non stick baking pan. Bake the cake in preheated oven of 325 F or 170 DC for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Serve the cake warm with a scoop of frozen yoghurt of your choice!

Hello....

2008-12-08T13:41:00.002+08:00

folks....! I'm right now holidaying in USA. Oh well...it's pretty cold here and I'm wrapping myself up like an Eskimo....

My post(s) here will be limited from now on till like mid of January 2009....I'll try to find some time to bake here and will post an entry if I have the chance...but stay tune till next month....coz I'll be back for sure!!

Adios and Dumb Baker wishes everyone a great Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

I'm right now in....

2008-12-02T22:11:00.002+08:00

Quang Ngai, Vietnam. A secluded up north area of Vietnam. A rural area where people sells food in those red basin/basket on surface of the tar road. A place where you the best way to communicate with locals here is by sign language. A place where there's hardly any menu in English. Nuff said.

My First Bento Breakfast

2008-11-25T10:25:00.000+08:00

Me : Miiii, how come you never make any bento meals for me to bring to school when i was young ar? Those days the bento boxes are available already ma......why ar why ar (bugged my mom non stop with 'why ar why ar' question)

Mom : *face red, fuming mad, staring at me* Enough of why ar or not?!!??!

Me : *shaddup immediately and managed to giggle a bit* He he he!

Mom : You think i so free ar? I have to make breakfast for you and fei chai, then have to clean up both of you and have to clean the dining table and kitchen area...you think i still got time to cut your bread and insert the foodpick one by one ar? Do you know how horrendous you and fei chai could be? Both of you were so mischievous....

Me : *immediately* Well that's not me mom....it's fei chai ok...not me...remember....it's fei chai ok ok ??

Mom : *continues her grandma story* Bla bla bla bla bla @&UI&*&^G&&*UO%$#^

Me: Okay mom...nevermind...just want to show you i made my first bento meal!!!! Ta daaa!!!!

Remember my post about this website that sells all sorts of bento boxes, cutters, food picks etc??? Well, i bought two Bento Boxes (one with Thermal Insulated bag), a pack of food picks and a Bento Box strap about a month ago. Initially i bought only the thermal insulated Bento Box so that i can prepare food for my bb to bring to work....but afraid it may look too 'soft' for him. So i emailed the seller and asked if she could help me find an all black Bento Box...black looks macho ma! Yeap!!!!! She found it for me....super duper thanks for the efficient service!!! As for the food picks, it was initially sold out, but i wanted to buy it so badly and asked the seller if she could restock it for me (because all the items are very limited in quantities), she gladly said yes!! Oh my god...double happiness for me!!!! NOw i have those cute cute food picks to hold the food together.

Verdict : My bb did not comment much on the bento breakfast i made for him...but he gladly chomped down all the food which i prepared...(what is it with man's ego + cute stuff?? luckily i'm cute enuf for my bb to have him chomp down the food...muahahahaha...bet u guys feeling sick now :P)

As for the Thermal Insulated Bento Box...bet you guys are waiting for this verdict....Yes!!!!! It DOES KEEP YOUR FOOD WARM!!! I baked this banana cake bread and cut a portion of the freshly baked bread for bb, the bread stayed warm for the next 4 hours...amazing isn't it???? Oooo...i'm so in love with the box now...

Anyway...let the pictures do the talking!

Presenting the Thermal Insulated Box......

Presenting Bb's Black Box......

Banana Cake Bread - Vegan Style

2008-11-17T08:40:00.000+08:00

Have i ever confessed that i have soft spot for local fruits? I can polish off 2 medium size of papayas, half watermelon and 4 bananas at one go. I just don't know why but i LOVE these fruits to bits! It's a must have weekly intake for me.

Mom brought back a big comb of banana one day....and most of the bananas are becoming overly riped. Ha...perfect timing for a banana cake. As usual, i google for a new banana cake recipe...but then...i stumble across this website. This vegetarian blogger is actually a dancer who has a big heart for baking. Her peanut-butter-banana-cake-bread photo drove me nuts because it was soooo tempting and it's eggless!!!!! Without hesitation, i copied down all the ingredients needed and hurried to the kitchen.

I altered the recipe a lil as i did not have a bottle of peanut butter at home and my house has only peanut cooking oil. What i did was, i melted the butter and replaced 1/8 cup of canola oil called in the recipe with 1/4 cup of melted butter. I added pure unsweetened thick soy milk to get the correct consistency of the cake-bread batter prior baking.

Verdict : Awesome!!!!! So moist and so healthy! This is a superbly easy & fail proof recipe. Definitely a keeper!

Ma Lai Kou

2008-11-17T08:23:00.001+08:00

What's not to be missed in my list of food whenever i visit a restaurant for Dim Sum? Ma Lai Kou of coz! The best ever Ma Lai Kou ever i have eaten was when i was still in the states studying. The dim sum was all prepared by the HOngkies...and man! You can feel the orgasm rushing down all your blood vessels the moment you have the hot steaming cake melts in your mouth. The second best Ma Lai Kou i have ever eaten can be found at a little hawker stall situated in front of Fatty Mok Restaurant in Salak South Garden, KL. Opens every night....rain or shine! Remember to get them in Pandan Flavor...it's the best!!!!!
But what if you are craving for a Ma Lai Kou at 1 o'clock in the morning?

Told you guys I'm a sucker for desserts and snacks at anytime of the day...or rather...any random time of the day! Haha! I tiptoed from my bedroom down to the wet kitchen and closed the kitchen door....just to make sure i won't send my dad down from his bed with a baton in his hand (thinking there's a thief in the house...huhuhu).

I have actually tried this recipes a few times and i shall say, it's as good as the one sold in the little hawker stall. But the best is still the one i have eaten in US.....damn...die die must go and eat again in December. So girls, this recipe comes handy whenever you want to please your ahem....in laws...hehehe! Happy trying!!!

Ingredients :

100g plain flour
2 tsp of baking powder
70ml skim milk
30ml water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
20g of melted butter

Method:

Sieve the plain flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add in milk, water, vanilla essence and an egg into the bowl of flour and mix well before adding the other egg. Stir in the melted butter till the mixture well incorporated. Pour the batter into a lined muffin tray / baking tray / steaming bowl. Steam the batter on high heat for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Soba-alike Attempt

2008-11-10T20:55:00.000+08:00

My bb always commented, why am i always buying cheap stuff (Pasar Malam clothes, Pasar Malam Food, Store brand products...etc)?

My reply is always ALWAYS always : Because I'm cheap.

Haha....each month, i allocate only RM 50 for breakfast and lunch. Save the rest of my salary in the bank. And no, don't even think that i have a fat account as i am only getting a peanut salary.

My bb thinks I'm insane...coz you know, RM50? What? What can u buy with RM50 per month for breakfast and lunch? BREAD. So that probably causes me to constipate so often...but what to do? I'm just a bread lover. Aiya...suddenly I'm digressing again.

So back to cheap...that day as i was perusing through the racks of Japanese products in Jucso, Tada...found this cheap bottle of sauce (for Soba i think)selling for only RM9.90! Let me tell u....when it comes to Japanese food, i can eat like barbarian. Freshly cut sashimi, hand rolls, soba, teriyaki......oh my god...enough...

I attempted a Soba-like dish on one fine morning. It was decent. Decent as in, the quality = amount you paid. Haha...oh well, it wasn't too bad, it's still soba, sauce was okay but incomparable to those served in the Japanese restaurants. But IT'S STILL SOBA....so for those who wants to have a cheap Japanese soba meal at home, try this:)

Blanch soba noodles in a pot of hot water till soft. Transfer the soften noodles into a pot of cold water before transferring them into a serving plate/bowl. Top the noodles with toasted sesame and shredded seaweed. Pour an adequate amount of sauce into a clean bowl and serve together with the soba noodle.

Question : Is soba noodle sauce = tempura sauce?

Moist-Wet-Lembap Carrot Pineapple Cake

2008-11-04T08:35:00.001+08:00

"Eat more carrots....then you no need wear glasses anymore....wear glasses no pretty ooo u know..."

Sounds familiar? Haha...yeap carrots are rich in Vitamin A, certainly keeps the ugly specs at bay. For more info, do drop by this website to learn about the goodness in carrots.

Anyway, i saw this yummy carrot cake photo and i drooled over the photo. I told myself "Sam....you must buy carrots tonight...rain or shine....GET THE CARROTS AND WHIP UP THE CAKE"

The cake turned out moist...i mean very superly moist. I guess the main culprit is the pineapple...i used fresh pineapples instead of the canned type...probably the pineapple was overly juicy? Hence the moistness of the cake! As the owner of the recipe said, without the pineapple, the cake would be perfect.

But if you're like me, luv moist cakes....DO NOT EXCLUDE THE PINEAPPLE!!! Happy trying!!!

A Step Towards A Healthier Me

2008-11-03T08:17:00.001+08:00

Hello everybody! Miss me? I know you do....bah! okay probably not.

Has anybody notice the weather in our beloved country is becoming extreme...as in when it rains, it rains non stop and elderly people will be cursing away when their rheumatism relapse...but now, seems like we'll be having suffering draught season soon. It's soooo hot and people around me, one by one is getting K.O. Fever...sore throat...itchy nose...etc etc etc...my bb and my mom were not spared either! Gosh...better make sure i keep myself hydrated with at least 2.5 litres of water a day.

I used to have this 'fever' attack once every month...and it'll last for a week. I always appear fatigue and pale. Mom was worried sick and she bought some food supplement from E-Excel for me. Cost about RM700+ for 2 months. Pretty expensive ya? But let me tell you...it's a miracle! I took this over a 4 months period and my health was much better...my appetite improved and i regained the 'color' on my face! Right now, i'm consuming this lil packet of drink first thing in the morning....it's yummy and full of nutrients. Fills you up too...for at least 2 hrs :)

Oh ya folks...before i sign off, let me make it clear that i'm not doing any advertisment for E-Excel...just wanna share my new found remedy to a healthier lifestyle:) Adiosss...........!!!

Steamed Fruit Cake...again!!

2008-11-02T00:45:00.004+08:00

Tomorrow I'm meeting my cousin bro for prayers day to respect our departed relatives. He asked, if he can try some of my homemade steamed fruit cake....hu hu hu....of coz! A fanatic baker me....jump at every opportunity i have to bake! hehe... and so...this is my third attempt...also my most satisfied steamed fruit cake. The moistness is there...the fluffiness is there...the color is there!!

Hope my cousin bro and cousin sis in law (psst....a good cook) enjoy this cake as much as i do! For recipe, kindly click here.

Kuih Bakar

2008-10-30T08:08:00.010+08:00

Does anyone here watch Ho Chiak on 8TV every Sunday @ 630pm? I do! I do!

After each episode, I'll bug my bb to take me to this restaurant and that restaurant to try out the dishes featured in the food show. However, it's always just "OK GG...We'll Go next week k?" When it comes to 'next week', the initial plan will always have to delay to next next week...too many 'next week' visit that never came true.

However, the Ho Chiak added this short session in its weekly show. They added the baking/cooking short show! Oooo....my favourite. Few weeks ago, kuih bakar was featured in the program...it looked so good that i wanted to make that kuih immediately...but unfortunately, i do not have any coconut milk with me.

Then, came this beautiful Sunday, eve of Deepavali....i made this kuih. I found this recipe online...lotsa good credits given to the recipe....and so, i followed. Hmmm....I'm not sure if it's because of the coconut milk that i added, the kuih was kinda....Oily.

Nevertheless, it was a good recipe to try, but for a sugar phobic person like me, i halved the amount of sugar called in the recipe. The outer texture was a lil crispy...probably due to the sesame seed sprinkled on the kuih and the inner texture was moist and soft :) The color was Au Natural extracted from the pandan leaves. If you fancy a quick and easy kuih, this is a good recipe to try.

The recipe was written in Bahasa Malaysia. For the benefits of those who aren't familiar of the language, I'll retype the recipe in English below:

Ingredients ( 6 pax )

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of pandan* juice (or water + pandan essence)
2 cups of flour
2 1/4 cups of coconut milk (or 1 can coconut milk-450ml ) (DB used 1 cup of thick coconut milk + 1 1/4 cup of water)
2 tbsp of butter
3 nos of eggs
1/2 tsp of salt (DB omitted this )
Some green coloring (DB omitted this)
Sesame seed

Method
1. Combine all ingredients and blend till thoroughly mixed.
2. Greased the baking pan with 2 tbsp of oil.
3. Heat the baking tray in the oven. When the oil becomes hot, pour the mixture of kuih into the baking pan and sprinkle the surface of the mixture with sesame seed. Bake at 180DC till the kuih appears golden brown.

*Pandan juice can be made by blending 1 cup of water with 8-9 pieces of Pandan leaves (screw pine leaves). Remember to sieve the juice....ngek ngek ngek

Constipation

2008-10-28T08:17:00.002+08:00

Constipation....ahh....my favourite topic.

Whenever i flipped through a magazine, somehow the C word will definitely caught my attention no matter how small the font is. See...that is how obsessed i am to know more about constipation.

When i was younger, i consulted a doctor for constipation treatment. As usual, he advised me to increase my fluid and fiber intake. However, some health magazines revealed that too much fiber intake will caused constipation too! due to the bulkiness of the ahem.....feces.

Just yesterday, as i was making my honey lemon drink, i realised that honey can actually help relieve the IBM (Irritable Bowel Movement). Yes...next time whenever you suffer from IBM, try this remedy:

For pregnant & elderly people:

Melt 6g of salt into warm water. Add 50g of honey and stir till dissolved. Take twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening).

For constipation due to heaty body & intestine inflammation :

Coat 10g of honey onto a piece of banana. Take it once a day (only 1 banana per day).

During the weekend, mom bought lotsa bananas from the morning market. Here's how i varied my intake of the bananas:

1.Kuih Kodok (mashed banana fritters)

Recipe courtesy of Lily Ng.

2. Banana Bread Roll

Flatten some wholemeal bread with a rolling pin. Place a banana on each flatten bread, sprinkle some cinnamon & icing sugar on the banana, roll and 'seal' the bread with the aid of a toothpick. Toast the banana bread roll for 4 minutes. Serve hot.

My weekend breakfast was truly a fiber rich 1...remember to drink heaps of water to aid the 'flushing' system of your body.

So what's your remedy of constipation?

Pineapple Tarts

2008-10-18T09:46:00.006+08:00

Dear Jen,

I wish we can meet up one day and I'll thank you endlessly for the recipe you shared. Then I'll present you with a bottle of my homemade pineapple tarts.

Haha....oh my god! Seriously this is good! Melts in mouth texture and the taste is just right! Not the too buttery type, not the dry type, but the right and melt in mouth type. I just can't stop popping these log shaped pineapple tarts into my mouth....there goes my diet.

Thank you JenJen for the lovely recipe and if we ever get to meet up, i shall bring a container of the tarts to you. No Kid :)

For instruction and recipe, please visit here. No regrets folks.

Ready for the pictures? Lai lai lai..........

Golden Jam Balls....took me only an hour to prepare..kekeke

(Instead of cinnamon stick, i added cloves for the aroma)

Why so pale? Coz i didn't brush a layer of egg wash la...hehehe

Okay...this is my half-bite-pineapple-tart.....dun be grossed out...i purposely took a pic of it to show the fibrous jam of the tart...is your saliva dripping now? kekeke

Braised Black Pepper Mushroom

2008-10-17T08:07:00.000+08:00

2 weeks ago, it was my virgin Sunday of waking up early and refuse to go for jogging. Getting lazy...kekeke...aih...super regret now coz i just had a hearty breakfast! If only i jog, then it would balance up my super full breakfast.

Did not jog, what was i upto? Cooking of coz!! This is my 1st time ever braising a mushroom. It wasn't as difficult as i thought it would be. In fact, it's super easy! What's the best companion to a braised mushroom? WANTAN MEE!!!!!! Bribe me with braised mushroom wantan mee, i'll clean your kitchen for a week....okay i'm just kidding...but i really love eating braised mushroom wantan mee...bb...you heard me?? I know you do...haha

Next item on the breakfast menu was this overloaded sandwich...in which i cleverly buttered my toast and top it with slices of icey cool cucumber, sardine in tomato sauce (with extra extra ketchup) and not forgetting the protein...the eggs....mmm...yummy! I even thought of making a double stack sandwich but then my mouth is not big enough eh. Okay...come drool over the pictures now....hungry??? Kekekeke

My Perfect Wantan Mee with Braised Mushroom

Ingredients :

5 Chinese mushrooms (soaked overnight), save some of the water
Half can of button mushrooms, drained and cut into half
Sesame Oil
4 tbsp of Black Pepper Sauce
3/4 cup of water
Cornflour (optional)

Method:

Heat a pot with some sesame oil and lightly fragrant both types of mushroom for 1 minute. Add water and some of the mushroom water into the pot and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes over low fire. Add in black pepper sauce and stir well. Continue simmer for 5-7 minutes. If the mushroom appears too watery, add in some cornflour to thicken the sauce. Dish up and serve hot.

Hehe....my overloaded sandwich

Instant Sesame Jam

2008-10-16T14:52:00.004+08:00

WHooopss.....let's take a break from fatty dairy products and shift to a healthier post. Ngek ngek ngek....

I've been a loyal reader of this hot mama's blog posts...her lifestyle seems to motivate me a lot to eat healthier, exercise more and most importantly, her own homemade food...healthy wei! I Kid You Not.

SO, one day, her post of healthy breakfast came strike me instantly....know why? Coz she spread her bread with sesame jam! Ha....where where where to buy?????? She gladly told me that the spread can be bought from organic shops and boy, they don't come cheap....

But then, i am just too determined to try out the sesame spread...and brilliant me (wakakakaka....self comfort) found these two tins of multigrain sesame powder, in which i added them for my morning cereal drink. Since this will be a trial and error thingy, i grabbed an empty container, put 4 teaspoon of black sesame powder + 2 tsp of multigrain powder + some sugar to the level of sweetness you desire + enough hot water and stir them well into a paste. Cool them and chill them in fridge....

Next day.....spread them on your favourite toast....TADAAAA.....mmmm....yummy! Thanks HealthFreakMommy!

Okay....don't be deceived by its black ooogey yuckey color...it's a blessing spread k...really...no kidding...

Cheese Brownie

2008-10-10T07:53:00.002+08:00

To JenJen, I'm so so so sorry for posting the recipe this late. I hope you truly enjoy this recipe and let me know if you like it as much as i do! :)

To CL, u must bake one and let me try k? Curious curious!! ;)

Folks, this is a must have recipe if you are a dessert person like me. This cheesy....sinfully delicious and rich brownie totally rocks! I just can't wait to bake another tray of it. Happy trying!!

Brownie :

180g butter, melted
220g castor sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
70g cocoa powder

Cheesy Filling :

250g cream cheese, softened
45g butter
60g icing sugar
1 egg

Method:

Mix melted butter and sugar until well combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time and mix well after each addition. Stir in vanilla essence. Gently fold in sifted flour, baking powder and cocoa powder...continue stirring batter till smooth.

Beat cream cheese, butter and icing sugar till well combined. Add in egg and beat well.

Pour 2/3 of the brownie batter into a baking tray. Then pour in all cheese filling. Spoon the remaining brownie batter on top of the cheese filling. Using a choptick, twirl the cheese and brownie batter around to create a marble effect.

Bake the cheese brownie in a preheated oven of 170 DC for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the brownie comes out clean. Cool the brownie to room temperature and chill them for at least 2 hours. Serve cold with a scoop of your favourite ice cream.....mmm...yummy!!!!

Dinner for 4

2008-10-03T10:13:00.005+08:00

Haiya....why am i in office working??!??! All because i have exhausted my annual leave. So what do you do when you go to office and your boss is not around? Happy hour time of coz!!! It's blogging time...kekek

First day of Raya...bb brought his cousin and his cousin's partner over to my house for mahjong's session. Since daddy and mommy are away for holiday, i took up the chef responsibility for the day. My mom is too generous. She bought all the ingredients for me and all i need to do is cook...i don't need to purposely drive out and start picking which chicken is nice, which veges is good...bla bla bla...

My meal preparation started on Tuesday night. I marinated some chicken wings with Teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil and dashes of pepper overnight. The next day, i placed the wings on a baking tray threw some butter on it, drizzle some sauce from the marination...baked the wings for about half an hour.

While waiting for the wings to be readied, i cook up some Mapo Tofu...this is superbly easy. All i need is just some minced pork, a cube of tofu, some soy bean paste (Taucu) and some pounded chili paste. I prefer my tofu spicy, so i actually added generous amount of the chili paste to the Mapo Tofu. Heh...bb was complaining the tofu is too spicy.

Next, i stir fry some green vegetables and added a tablespoon of Chinese wine to taste. I also stir fry some french beans with shrimps.

Ha....a typical Chinese cuisine cannot be completed without soup. I made a pot of anchovies soup base and threw in some preserved vegetables, tomatoes, carrots and sour plums. Yea...i made the "HAM CHOI Soup"....yummy...

Although I'm a pure genuine Chinese....ya pure genuine (just in case u may doubt that I'm of mixed blood...hahah) my meal will not complete without dessert. Hu HU HU!! Early in the morning, i baked a tray of Cheese Brownies...oh my god...this is heavenly good! After i have cooled the freshly baked brownies on the dining table, i transferred the brownies to the fridge and chill it. When i served the guests of the day with the brownies, holy mama, both cousins (bb and his cousin) requested to ta-pau the brownies. Hehe...thanks thanks thanks for your endless support. Keke...paiseh paiseh...

Ok...to cut story short, I'll leave the pictures talk the story :)

p/s: Not enuf...i also steamed some fruit cakes...in conjunction of Hari Raya...hahahaha!

Mapo Tofu with extra chili!

Baked Wings......mmmm

Cheesy Brownies.....sinfully deliciooooussss!

Last but not least......the Steamed Fruit Cake...moist and rich ;)

Steamed Fruit Cake

2008-09-29T15:44:00.003+08:00

The Malay festives is here! Wishing all Muslim visitors "Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin".

I noticed lately that a lot of supermarts & hypermarts are stocked with loafs of fruit cakes. From what i understand is during the fasting month, all Muslims will break their fast with some thing sweet, hence the dates and fruit cakes bazaar.

I have a lovely Muslim colleague who made fruit cakes for sale. According to her, she actually steamed the cake for 4 hrs!!! How tedious! And she said the water must be boiling hot prior steaming the cake and each addition of water into the steaming wok/pot must be boiling hot. That is why, buying homemade fruit cake can actually cost a bomb...

I have tasted my colleague's steamed fruit cake and was totally amazed by the moist texture...the kind of melt-in-mouth. I'm not a fruit cake fan, maybe because most of the time, the cakes i bought are kinda dry in texture and the culprit behind it could be the baking process.

But because I am totally swept away by the yummy steamed fruit cake, I decided to give it a try on steaming a fruit cake. I found this lovely recipe from thestar.kuali...a truly superb recipe. However, i ran out of sultanas, and here's what i substitued with : cherries, prunes & organic raisins. Although the time needed to steam the fruit is only half the time my colleague does, but it seemed darn long to me. I practically stood in front of the stove for the last 30 minutes, couldn't wait to dig in the fruit cake.

Oh my god. I love it! Truly amazing recipe by Amy Beh. My dad luvs it too (he's an ardent fan of fruit cake...:S) but he said if i could cut down the amount of sugar used, the cake would have been perfect. So peeps, take note ya if you don't have the sweet tooth.

Recipe Extracted from Kuali. com

Ingredients
200g butter
180g castor sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
200g mixed fruits

Sifted
265g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
70g castor sugar
60ml water

Method
To prepare caramel:Cook sugar in a saucepan until the sugar turns golden brown. Remove saucepan from the heat and pour in water. Stir to dissolve the sugar until a caramel is formed. Set aside to cool completely. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the essence. Fold in sifted dry ingredients and add in mixed fruits. Add the caramel to mix. Turn batter into prepared cake pan and cover the top with a piece of aluminium foil. Steam over rapid boiling water for two hours or until cake is cooked through when tested with a wooden skewer.

Multigrain Bread

2008-09-24T08:30:00.003+08:00

Actually, this is my second attempt. The first was a week before i decided to give this recipe a second try....haha....know why i failed my first loaf? It was hard as rock!!!!!!! Aiyayai!!! I suspect it's because i did not add any bread improver to the recipe. Though the bread rose well, but heck, it was like rock! There's a Chinese proverb to it "taeng sei kao" (throw dead dog....direct translation from Cantonese)..which means the bread was hard enough to kill dog when the bread is thrown to it. Haha!

Okay...my second attempt was wonderful! The aroma...the height of the bread....the softness...ooo...i just luv it. Oh my god, my bread consumption disorder is back again...u know, once you get started, you'll be addicted. I tried to make the bread interesting by adding some freshly blended pandan juice. My mom had two plants of Pandan Leaves...thus making it easy to make whatever dessert that requires Pandan. Here's the recipe....all thanks to my idol....AGNES CHANG :)

Ingredients:

400g bread flour
100g whole meal flour
1.5 tsp of bread improver
1/4 tsp of salt
30g of butter
30g of sugar (DB substituted with molasses)
350ml of milk (DB used unsweetened soy milk)
1 1/4 tsp of yeast
100g of multigrains (DB gathered multigrains, wheat bran, instant oats to 100g)
2 tsp of pandan juice (optional...not part of the recipe)

Method :
There's the conventional method illustrated by Agnes in her baking book. However, what i did was gathered all the recipes and throw them in my breadmaker's bucket. Press the button Whole Wheat...wait for 3.25hrs...and...Tadaa!!! Yummy freshly baked bread ready to be served!!!

I had mine generously spread with Golden Churn butter and peanut butter. Next slice, i had it generously spread with Garlic Spread....*heavens*...

What's your favourite way to eat your toast/bread?

R.I.P. My Friend

2008-09-18T08:07:00.005+08:00

It was on Sunday, close to midnight, i received an unexpected message from my good friend, L. It is quite rare to have her sending me a message this late, i somewhat felt uncomfortable at that moment too.

There, the message content was to inform me about the memorial service held for a good friend of mine, LBS on the following morning. LBS passed away earlier in the evening after a long battle with cancer. He was truly a fighter and like my other friends said, LBS proved the doctors wrong for the past 20+ years.

LBS, though you have left us, but the memories of our friendship together will etch forever in our hearts. We will always keep you in our prayer and may you rest in peace.

Me and LBS have been good friends since primary 1. We sat next to each other and we remained as classmates until we finished our SPM. We grew up together and he has always been the 'Tai Kor' to us for he was always the class rep. throughout our schooling years. He was a good friend, a good listener, a good tutor, a good son and truly a man with a loving heart.

You will always be remembered my dear friend..

Blog Award

2008-09-15T11:43:00.004+08:00

Wah seh! Never know i would actually receive an award from a fellow blogger....well...if u notice the side bar of my blog...scroll all the way down on the left...yea...number of visitors....a pathetic figure...haha...but anyway, success doesn't come overnight rite?

Thanks to Jen Jen for being such a thoughtful friend...although i don't really know the meaning of this award, but a million thanks and appreciation for remembering me :)

Aiya JenJen, I'm just an avid baker like you...keke...glad to know i actually inspired you to look out for more recipes to try...kekeke...my fellow friends will be laughing at me (ya ya...bet they gasping now...what?? Samantha an inspiration?) Coz all the while I'm actually more like a 'clown' friend rather than a inspiring friend...okay...in short in the loudest among my friends

Anyway...thanks a lot Jen!! Hugs and Kisses for you!!

Here it goes....and i shall pass on the award to :

TheCookingMomster who is my dearest cousin and also a great cook

Jessie who is my bestest bestest and ter-best friend in my life

Gimmy Yap...my joker handsome cousin

HealthFreakMommy.....oooh..i learn a lot of parenting stuff from this hot mama

Till then....adios & Have a great day everyone!!

Blossom Chinese Cake

2008-09-11T22:36:00.000+08:00

A new cake species ar?

Haha....it's non other that our very famous "Fatt Koe". I'm just trying to make it sound sophisticated...okay i know it's not.

The last time i tried to make a fatt koe...it didn't blossom that well...in the end, it looks more an ordinary steam cake rather that a smiling chinese blossom cake. I was demotivated.

Came Tuesday (19/8/08), flipped through The Star newspaper and i saw this recipe. Don't know why, i was so eager to try out the recipe. Guess what??? I DID IT!!!!! The moment i uncovered the steamer, all cakes were blossomed and smiled at me!

The only down side of my fatt koe is the color. My colleague asked me if it's yam fatt koe (no...it's not yam...it's just the blue+red coloring). My senior manager asked me if the cake is expired....hence the color (*slaps head*)

Minutes later, they were enjoying the fatt koe albeit the poor first impression of the fatt koe.

Thank YOu So Much AMY BEH!!!

Bento Craze In? ya?

2008-09-08T14:36:00.003+08:00

Hi FOlks!!

To all avid mama/girlfriends/wives Internet surfers our there, bet you guys realised the bento craze is a hit right now! Yaya...i'm not exceptional! Been secretly surfing around for a cute bento box...or perhaps a sexy bento box (if there is) recently....so that i can make some bento lunch for my bb to bring to office. Haha...wondering if he'll get mad at me for making him embarrassed....a macho guy holding a lil bento box? haha...but hey, I'm pouring in all my efforts to make him a decent lunch...he can't be mad at me rite?

Anyway, snap off my rantings. Back to bento...actually just want to share with you guys...found this cute bento website...nope...i'm not promoting this website cuz i don't even know who is the owner...i just thought the bento boxes are cute and pretty cheap. I have eyed on the thermal insulated bento box and will blog about the purchase process after i have successfully purchased 1. For the time being.....visit HERE!!!!!hehehhee....fun fun fun!!

'Min Xin' Kueh

2008-09-02T08:16:00.007+08:00

Aunty C : What is this? Looks like fried kueh with pork oil....
Me : *slaps head* NOla aunty....it's kueh made by mee suah
Aunty C : Ha? Sure boh????
Me : Yala...bluff u for what? Got Gold ar?
Aunty C : Eh...quite nice la!

Looks like 'chee yau kou' (pork oil kueh) meh??

Hey hey everybody? How was Merdeka Day? Got the patriotic semangat or not? As for me, usual lor...just another manic Sunday...wish it were Saturday..ok ok...ter-into a classic song pulak. Anyway, Saturday night, after our kai kai adventure at Sunway Pyramid, i defrosted some minced pork and a small packet of shelled prawns on the wet kitchen's counter. After watching a DVD with bb, off i went to the wet kitchen and chop chop chop a whole bulb of garlic and also minced the prawn. Then heat up a non stick pan with a drizzle of oil...dump in the garlic and fry till fragrant. Slowly add in the minced pork and prawn and stir fry till cooked. Then add in some water seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper to the meat mixture and let it simmer for a minute. Add in mee suah and stir thoroughly till the mixture appear soggy. Turn off the heat. Transfer the mee suah mixture into a lightly oiled pan and let it cool overnight.

The next day, cut the cooled mee suah into cubes/oblong/round/whatever shapes you want. Dip the cut mee suah into a beaten egg mixture and pan fry each of them till golden brown. Absorb the excess oil with a kitchen's towel and garnish the mee suah kueh with some spring onion (i ran out of them...oppps) Serve hot with your favorite sauce!!!

Ingredients :

50g of minced pork
50g of minced prawn
1 whole bulb of garlic
2 bowls of water
8 pieces of mee suah
some sesame oil, soy sauce and pepper for seasoning

Quick Donuts

2008-08-27T14:59:00.004+08:00

I've been feeding on donuts for at least a week (7 consecutive days). Why? Blame it on my blardy hormone. Haha...the estrogen / progestrone / whatever it is in me had ignited my sudden crave of junk food.

Haiya...i'm a growing young adult ma...what to do?

The last time i made donut is by baking method....this time...notty me, ahheem...fried them. Aiya....very guilty now. How am i able to lose the spare tyre if i continue my unhealthy eating lifestyle? Sigh...enjoy life...dun worry abt the spare tyre now. Worry tomorrow. Haha!!

Okay...here you go :

Ingredients :

2 cups of plain flour
1/3 cups of sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of baking powder
some ground cinnamon
a dash of ground nutmeg
2 tbsp of butter
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg, beaten

Method :
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. With a clean hand, knead the liquid-dough mixture for about 7 minutes. Heat up a frying pan and pour an adequate amount of oil onto it. Lower heat when the oil is hot enough for frying. Drop a spoonful of batter into the frying pan and fry till golden brown. Blotch the excess oil of the fried donut with a kitchen towel. Cool the donut before dusting them with powdered sugar. Serve warm.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

2008-08-18T08:58:00.002+08:00

Last night, i read an article about life. There's a quote...."There's one birthday for each of us every year...and we celebrate it. But come to think about it, there's 364 unbirthday days...why didn't we celebrate it?"

Got you thinking ha?!??! hehehe...

Anyway, Daddy took us out for a craby dinner on Saturday and we had 3 plates of crab cooked in different style, a plateful of squid, a plateful of Vege, a plateful of Man Tau and a plateful of Fried Vermicelli (did i spell correctly?) with Lala. We left the restaurant sweaty and smelly....but with a HAPPY TUMMY@!!! Thanks daddy!!

To my lil bro, who again, missed this celebration....here are some pictures for you to enjoy. Opps...too hungry to snap food pictures...end up only snapped the leftover shells from the crabs...kekekek

Vegetables Pau

2008-08-18T08:37:00.003+08:00

I've been drooling over Sue's Char Siew Pau for ages! But i never get to try out her recipe until last weekend. Reason because I just can't seem to allocate some time to make Char Siew. Yeap....that's right....i wanted to make my own Char Siew...and then my very own Char Siew Pau...hehe...wait till one fine public holiday, i'll get my saggy butt up and make my own Char Siew Pau.

Well since i can't make my Char Siew for the time being, i decided to make my very own Choi Pau....kekeke...

Sorry for the ugly plaiting of the Pau...but hey...it's the taste that matters!!! I must say....Oh MY GOD....thanks for Sue's Recipe....the Pau...is sooooooo soft!!!!! Mommy, Wifey and Girlfriends out there, THIS IS A MUST RECIPE IN YOUR COOKBOOK!!!

French Toast & Tong Sui for Dinner

2008-08-18T08:18:00.004+08:00

Last week had not been a good week for me. Why? Cuz *cough cough cough * non stop. People say cough cough cough can firm up the muscles around ur tummy...but why mine still flabby 1? keke...anyway...cut the BS here.

One fine day, i just decided to have something sweet for dinner. Rang my mom up in the office and told her i want Lin Chee Kang (Lotus Seed Dessert) for dinner. Being the Kam Po LO (golden pineapple --> precious child) in the family (for the time being....since bro is away in the US), mom immediately took off from work and bought all the ingredients to make Lin Chee Kang...ngek ngek ngek...

To compliment my Lin Chee Kang, i made myself some French Toast. I topped my toast with chunks of Grape Jam and spread a generous amount of baked beans. With one big bite, mmmm.....yummy....So easy so good and messy-less.

Ingredients:

6 pieces of 9 days old bread (haha yea...i kept my bread in the fridge...so it lasted that long)
3 eggs
some milk
dashes of cinnamon powder

Method :

Heat up a non stick frying pan. Beat eggs, milk and cinnamon powder together in a bowl. Soak the bread in the egg mixture for 4 seconds...ensuring both sides of the bread are well coated. Lower the heat of the pan to medium level. Fry the bread on the pan till golden brown. If you prefer a buttery fragrant french toast, you may melt some better on the pan and fry the bread on them. I had mine oil-less, butter-less. Still yummy.

My freshly fried French Toast w/ mommy's yummylicious Lin Chee Kang...see the amount of Longan she added...woo hoo...dun be jealous....hahaha!

Chocolatey Swirl Vanilla Pound Cake

2008-08-15T08:13:00.004+08:00

Me : Wake up! Stop snoring! Come out on Friday night for a drink. Don't eat also nevermind. Sama sama diet...keke!
Fair Banana : Am not snorin. Tryin to get me with your baking again? Hai yoh. Fine. But then it has to be somewhere where can just sit n drink.
Me : What do you want? Cookies, brownies or cake? Choose 1. Don't be greedy.
Fair Banana : I almost want 2 say all. Erm i think cake. Thanks.
Me : Made you a chocolatey swirl vanilla pound cake.
Fair Banana : Oh great. Telling me what it is has gotten me thinking 'bout it more.

This is how i always bribe a good friend of mine to come out for a meal or drink. Haha....yea....she's a freak consumer of breads, cookies, brownies...all sort of confectionary goods. Anyway, i had actually intended to bake a simple marble butter cake...but then I don't always get to meet this good friend of mine. So may as well, just spend a lil more time and bake something better. So i dug out my King Arthur recipe book and found a vanilla pound cake recipe. I tweaked the recipe a little to make it into a Chocolatey Swirle Vanilla Pound Cake.

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter
1 cup of granulated sugar (DB used only 3/4 cup of sugar)
3 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of salt
1 + 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
4 large eggs (DB used 5 small eggs)
3 tsp of cocoa powder
3 tsp of milk

Method :

Preheat oven to 180 DC. Cream butter, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract and salt together for about 2 minutes. Add in flour and continue mixing. Mixture will appear somewhat paste-y in texture. Add in eggs one at a time and ensure well mixing after each addition of egg. Allocate 3 tbsp of the cake batter into a small bowl. Add in cocoa powder and milk to the small bowl and mix well. Pour half of the vanilla cake batter into a prepared baking pan. Add in dallops of the cocoa cake batter onto the vanilla cake batter in the baking pan. Be careful not to crowd the chocolate cake batter in the baking pan. Top the chocolate cake batter in the baking pan with the remaining vanilla cake batter. Smooth the surface of the cake batter with a scrapper. Using a chopstick, twirl the cake batter to create a swirl effect on the cake. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Verdict : Simply delicious! Moist and Yummy!

Orange Butter Cake

2008-07-28T13:23:00.006+08:00

Saturday was a super rushing day for me. I had to work from morning till late noon...rushed back and gotta take a quick shower before I took my parents and bb out for dinner. Wait a minute....oh no!!!! Cake??!??! I have not baked a cake on Friday!!! Gosh....

That's it...i have no time to bake everything from scratch....so...my short cut way...ummm...yea...the Pillsburry Butter Cake Mix

Haha....aiya...no time ma..plus hor, this cake mix is really delicious...but a little too sweet for my family though. The cake mix i have has its buttery flavor, however, plain butter cake for dad's birthday? uhh....too plain!!! SO i squeezed an orange to extract its juices and pulps to compliment the flavor of the cake. Quick and Easy!!

Ingredients :

1 packet of Pillburry's Butter Cake Mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter (about 120g)
Juice + pulps of an orange + enough water to make 1 cup of orange juice
A handful of almond nibbles (optional)

Method:
Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl with a low speed mixer for 2 minutes. Pour batter into a lined baking pan and toss in some almond nibble on the surface of the cake batter. Bake the cake in preheated oven of 175 DC for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean

Verdict: Tangy Butter Cake!!!!!!! Pillsburry...never fail us :) MMmmmm Yummy

Bb's photography skill

Look how spongy and moist is the cake...is your saliva dripping now?

Daddy's Birthday :)

2008-07-28T08:45:00.006+08:00

We finally settled for Shanghai Food in Avenue K on Saturday to celebrate daddy's birthday. Although food was simple, but i can see daddy enjoys every bits of the meal...know why? Cuz daughter belanja ma!!!! ekkeke...

Four of us had a great time savouring 12 plates of food....consisting noodles, dim sum, dessert and some snacks...we were so full and extremely satisfied:) The dinner cost me RM 96...pretty cheap ya? Considering the location of the restaurant...i think it's pretty cheap...good service too.

My little bro, now that you are far away from us, sorry that you missed the fun. Nvm...when i go visit you in December, we shall celebrate Christmas ya! Meanwhile, enjoy the pic :)

Shake SHake Shake....ooo lalala

2008-07-25T08:20:00.005+08:00

Shake to Shape....oooh....Shake to Shape....oooohh

SOunds familiar? Yaya...it's the Gintell ISO "shaking" machine....

Daddy had always wanted to buy a massaging chair but few years back, the deal wasn't the attractive...RM10k for a chair? Allelujah!!

Then, a month ago....daddy finally bought the massaging chair...know why? Coz I have not been sleeping well ever since i got transferred to another department in my office....thus, stiffed neck became my daily morning alarm. Aihz....So daddy and mommy, got worried....(actually i think daddy wanted to buy the chair long time ago liao...but no valid reason to spend so much money suddenly...and then...*light bulbs*....i became the reason....lame right .___.)

Anyway, the chair was delivered to my house last month....but daddy spent only 6k for it...anddddddddd.....the best part is....Gintell was doing this promotion thing...buy 1 massaging chair, free Gintell ISO, free eye massager, free slimming belt....oh yes..FREE GINTELL ISO!!!!!!

Ok...enuf of the massaging chair story...the reason why i wrote this post is becauuuuuuse...I've GAINED WEIGHT....*sob sob*.....again...i wonder if it's because of the PMS thingie...u know...tummy get bloated...can't fit into my favourite ultra low levi's jeans...worst...the sight of 'spare tyre' whenever I'm in my tight fitting top....yikes!!! FAT SNAKE : If You Are Reading This, Can You Please Tell Me Why I Get Spare Tyre Every Time Of The Month????!?????

And so, I've Gained Weight....what did i do? I stopped eating...well not completely...i still take fruits and veges everyday....but damn...the sight of cookies and breads and pastries are always tempting me to just grab them and shove them into my mouth and munch munch munch...aih...Oh God...tell me WHY WOMEN MUST HAVE SPARE TYRE?????? ok...back to my diet...

Yes, i did consume some cookies...and the devil in me kept telling me...c'mon..one more piece won't make you fat...

One piece...followed by another...another....and i lost track of how many another i have gave in...

As i was sitting on the chair..drinking my cuppa of coffee and staring at the TV in front of me...suddenly I SAW IT! o kanasai!!! MY TUMMY....WHAT HAPPENED??!??! It BULGED like NOBODY'S BUSINESS...shit shit shit!!!!!!! I quickly ran up to my weighing scale...to my horror...+1.5KG!!!!!!!!! Oh SHit!!! Big time SHIT!!!!

*breathe*......and then...AHA!!! THE GINTELL TO THE RESCUE...kekeke! With my lightning speed, i turned on the machine and selected BODY PERFECTION PROGRAM....and it begins...shake shake shake...ooo....for 20 minutes....

After the shaking session, i looked down...wooo....FLAT...hahahaha!!!!!! yay!!! Yes....the machine miraculously shakes off my bulging tummy in just 20 minutes!!!!

I guess i found my new love....ooops...bb i still love you and you are still my best bb...muaacks! Hehe...

Farnee Morning

2008-07-24T22:30:00.004+08:00

Tell me if this sound hilarious to you.

Me: Hello, good morning. Can I speak to Mr XXX please?
Ms. X : XXX dak raam aat eem (Ms. X answered me this in a super rude manner, loud and rude!!! with her Indian Slang)

I paused. Trying to figure out what she had just said. Nope. I don't understand at all.

Continue.....

Me: Ha?
Ms. X : XXX DAK ROOM BUAT EELM (in a super loud and angered voice)

I paused. Finally..."XXX DARK ROOM BUAT FILM"....that's what i understand.

Continue....
Me: Okay. Who's this on the line?
Ms. X : I'm ZZZ
Me: Hi ZZZ. Why are you so angry? Why did you talk to me in such way? (in my best calm tone)
(Ms. X was shocked upon hearing what i asked)
Ms. X: (pretended) Ha??
Me: Why are you so angry? Why did you talk to me like this?
Ms. X: I'm sorry Mam....i don't know why i so angry....I'm sorry mam...

The conversation continued for the next 30 seconds with her being super helpful...damn two faced fella.

.__. *sweat*

Any Suggestion?????

2008-07-23T16:22:00.005+08:00

Dear Visitors,

Daddy's birthday on Saturday. As a filial daughter (ahemm...perasan betul...okla...i'm a good daughter after all k??), I'm planning to take daddy, mommy and my BB for a dinner treat. Daddy prefers Chinese cuisine....but i prefer Chili's Restaurant...boohoo!!!!

Can anyone....suggest a good restaurant serving yummylicious Chinese food? Some places that i could think of is Dragon-I Restaurant and also another Chinese restaurant located in Avenue K, KL.

My baahjeert hor....not more than RM250 for 4 persons la.

Throw me some ideas ya!!!!!

Green Tea Pound Cake

2008-07-21T17:38:00.004+08:00

I'm all excited when my senior told me that tomorrow(Saturday), she will not be in office as she needed to tend to something urgent. So, how did i spend my Saturday? Sleeping? Slouching on the couch? Munching on unhealthy food? C'mon....do you think I'm such person? well yea i am...keke..oppps...just half of the day.

Finally, the next half of the day, i got my saggy butt up from the couch and started meddling with my baking utensils. Ransacked my baking cupboard, ha...guess what i found? GREEN TEA POWDER!!! Wheeee!!! Plus i have half packet of cream cheese left...i remember reading a post from LCOM about green tea pound cake...and so, i tried.

Verdict: Soft!!!! Spongy!!!! Not too sweet...just nice!!! However, i doubled the quantity needed for green tea....so my cake tasted very green...very tea...hahaha....ok what am i talking. Anyway...folks...you gotta try it to believe it! You know what i mean ;)

Idiot!!!!!!!!

2008-07-21T09:17:00.002+08:00

Sorry guys.. for the lack of updates.

Been doing this 'one man show' for a project in my company....had no time for myself, for my family, for food, for everything...sheeshhh!!

This morning, had an idiotic call from this A fella..."Hi Miss Samantha, please expedite bla bla bla bla...". Oh well, i didn't pay much attention to his nags....all i heard was expedite documents, confirmation date....and the rest of it, i regard his voice as birds chirpping...bad me...kekekeke

But hey....there's a reason why i named this post idiot.....because i'm an idiot. Seriously...why am i sacrificing so much for my company...knowing that i'm not appreciated afterall....HELLLO BOSSS...I"M NOT SUPERWOMAN K!!!

My family doesn't understand me...why do i need to be so hardworking...why can't i just slacken the whole working progress and let my company succumb to the critics by the clients......

So what do you think? Working 730am-730pm, MOn - Fri and 830am-5pm on Saturdays....without claims...without assistant...WITH ONLY PEANUT SALARY!

Anyone hiring a project engineer?

Baked Apple Donut

2008-07-19T00:53:00.004+08:00

Fat Snake : Wei Samantha, (I'm Samantha Wei btw...kekekeke) your blog is DEAD.
Me : Yala i know la...busy like a bee k......

Hehe...sorry chaps for the lack of updates...actually every weekend i will do my usual baking....but kept it really simple and less time consuming...BUUUUUtttttt........everytime when i want to take photos, the food is gone....haiz...

Did u guys know that donut are actually fried? Yea...they swim in a pool of Oil....and coated with sinful toppings....and make life miserable to dieters!!!!

But then...there's always a solution (winked!) Yeap....good news to donut addicts, if you are worrying a lot about the oil absorbed by the dough when fried, here's an alternative. An easy, yummy baked donut recipe without the mess!

Enjoy the recipe here and tell me you love them too!

p/s: I don't have a donut pan, thus i used the muffin pan:)

Simply Rich Shortbread

2008-06-28T09:24:00.004+08:00

Is Danish butter cookies = shortbread? I don't know...do you know?

Aromatic Rich (i.e. fat) Shortbread

Every year during CNY celebration, i never fail to buy tinSSSSSS of danish cookies and savour them through out the 15 days of celebration. I just love the buttery taste that lingers on your tongue even after an hour of consuming these sinful cookies...somehow the rich butter flavor made me felt like my life isn't empty at all...ok...pardon my little drama here:) I found this easy shortbread recipe online and i have to admit, i found the ingredients too simple, too few...and too easy...i hesitated. But I'm curious and so, i gave in and decided to try this easy recipe.

Simply gather the following items:

250g pure butter (DB used Pure Australian Butter)
1/2 cup of icing sugar
4 tbsp of cornflour
1 1/2 cup of plain flour

Cream butter and sugar until pale yellow in color. Sieve in cornflour and plain flour into the creamed mixture. Mix thoroughly until the mixture becomes a soft dough. Take a teaspoon of the soft dough and roll lightly in between your palms into a ball. Place the dough onto the parchment paper in the baking tray. Lightly press the dough with a fork. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven of 155DC - 160DC for 20 minutes. (Monitor the cookies after 15 minutes in the oven to prevent the cookies from getting burnt at the bottom).

Verdict: There's always a say "Good Food never comes EASY..." This statement is totally wrong in this recipe. Easy and GOOD!!! Awesome!!

Fair Banana...if you are reading this, yes...i am tempting you with these babies in exchange for a dinner on Friday night...hahahahhaha

Famous Amos...not quite

2008-06-10T12:35:00.005+08:00

"Samantha!!! U try this recipe...if it works hor, save some for me ya!"

My adorable colleague, Rachel, purposely intercom me during working hours and 'reminded' me about the email which she had forwarded to me earlier....DA FAMOUS AMOS RECIPE....well...not quite there yet...for me

I guess Rachel has been brain washed by me and an ex colleague of mine, Fair Banana, to indulge in these fattening, unhealthy yet delicious and addictive cookies. I can survive solely on bread, water and cookies...while Fair Banana who can give you a clown smile (i.e. wide smile) even when she felt the whole world is collapsing on her IF YOU FEED HER WITH TUBS OF ICE CREAMS AND CAKES AND COOKIES AND THE SIGNIFICANT ONE...BREAD!!!! Opps...she'll kill me if i expose more of her secretive personality...hahaha!

Oh well...i love them both too much...that's why I've been tempting and feeding them with all my baked cakes and cookies....and what i get in return? SAMANTHA..YOU ARE MAKING ME FAT...haahaha!

To all the courageous (not afraid of F-A-T) consumers, please enjoy the recipe below. Though it isn't 100% replica of Amos cookies, but it's definitely worth a few tries!!!

Ingredients:

2 cups of butter- DB used salted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal &blend in blender to powdery stage)
24 oz. chocolate chips
1 tsp. salt- DB omitted
18 oz. Cadbury bar (grated)- DB omitted
2 tsp. baking powder
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)- DB omitted
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 170 DC. Cream butter and both types of sugar till pale yellowish in color. Add in eggs, followed by vanilla extract to the butter mixture and beat well. Sift in flour, baking soda and baking powder (& salt if you are using it) into the butter eggy mixture. Add oatmeal, grated chocolate, chocolate chips and nuts into the mixture. Using the spiral beater, mix all the ingredients on medium speed until well mixed. Drop teaspoonful of cookie dough onto the baking sheets, leaving a gap of 2cm in between the cookies. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Verdict: I love them...but it's way too sweet for me...you might want to reduce to 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Dunk them in a cup of cold milk...mmm yummy!!!!

Morning Cookies

2008-06-03T07:45:00.003+08:00

Did it ever strike you one day that you just want to gorge down something healthy and crunchy? Oh boy....it's been striking me for the last few days. I have been buying cornflakes in bulks from our friendly hypermarket and every morning i just have them swimming in a bowl of icy cold soy bean milk....mmmm...yummy....

Then on Sunday morning, as i opened the kitchen's cabinet, oh my...i didn't realise i bought such a big quantity of cereals.....i have 4 packets of 1.2kg Instant Oats, 3 Jumbo box of Cornflakes and 3 packets of 800g Nestum. SO i thought....hmm...maybe i could do some multi cereal cookies ya?

And the journey begins......

Ingredients :

250g of butter
150g of fine sugar
3 small eggs
Pinch of salt
1 tsp of vanilla essence
2 cups of cornflakes (crushed finely in a food processor)
1.5 cups of Nestum cereal
1.5 cups of oats (measured and powdered finely)
250g of plain flour

Method:

Cream butter and sugar till smooth.
Add in eggs; followed by salt and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Add in all the remaining dry ingredients and blend well into a soft dough.
Take a pinch of the dough and shape it into a ball. Place it on the lined baking tray. Flatten them a little with a fork.
Repeat step 4 with the rest of the dough. Bake them in a preheated oven at 180 DC for 12-15 minutes.

Verdict: Simply crunchy and yummy....and ADDICTIVE!!!!!! My god...I'm piling up the kgs again! Aiyayai!

Steam Honey Sponge Cake

2008-05-28T17:15:00.000+08:00

At first, i thought of making Ma Lai Kou (chinese sponge cake) but.....after flipping my through my i-can't-live-without-book, hehe...i quickly change my mind to make this steam honey sponge cake.

I remember extracting this recipe from somebody else's blog...but i really cannot remember whose blog i extracted from...so, anyway...this is truly a delicious easy sponge cake to make! It's steamed and no messy utensils to clean after.

Ingredients :

250g of butter
230g of brown sugar
5 eggs
1.5 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp of honey
300g plain flour
1.5 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of baking soda
Baby pinch of salt

Method:

Cream butter and sugar till mixture appear yellowish brown and smooth in texture.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time and mix till well combined.
Add in vanilla extract and honey. Continue mixing until well combined.
Add in the rest of the sifted dry ingredients to the mixture and beat till well combined (smooth thick mixture).
Pour mixture into baking pan and steam over rapid boiling water for 45-50 minutes.

Verdict : Look at how moist and soft of the cake...that is how yummylicious the cake is...muahahaha...okay...i'm boasting a lil here...but hey...the cake truly taste as good as the pic displayed~ no play play oooo!

Moist Chocolate Cake

2008-05-23T22:30:00.002+08:00

Feeling a little blue lately? No worries la....chocolate to the rescue!!!

It's Friday today....obviously happiest day of the week for me...heheh....automatically i'll bake something...and dessert for today iiiiiisssssssssssssss......

Moisty Chocolatey Cakey....that makes u go ooo la la

I adapted the recipe from Aunty Yochana...alright people....picture says a thousand words...

Maple Oatmeal Cranberry cookie

2008-05-20T19:59:00.002+08:00

Warning! Dangerous cookie ahead.

Ha? Why dangerous wor?

Cuz i have just gulped down one of the two jars containing the freshly baked maple oatmeal cranberry cookies. This is not just another oatmeal cookies...with a hint of cranberry flavor followed by the sweetness of the maple syrup...mmmm yummy!!

Another thing that made this cookie special is that it's not exactly a 'dough' like you usually dropped / shaped on to the parchment paper before you put them in the oven. This cookie 'dough' contains more liquid...hence you gotta scoop (preferable using a round bottom spoon) and drop them on the parchment paper with 2 inches apart from each other....this is give ample room for the cookie to spread.

Oh ya...be sure not to over bake these cookies...as it will turn out hard as rock...hahaha....okla...i had a batch of my cookies over baked...that's why i know that it will turn out hard as rock lor!

Waste no time...come join me to explore the website managed by two great chefs...Sunny & Sid:)

Pssst...they do bake for sale!! I've tried their durian mousse cake...one word...BEST!!!!!

A Moment of Silence

2008-05-16T17:16:00.001+08:00

Just when you thought that the whole world is collapsing on you, or everyone around you seems to be treating you unfairly….take a moment of silence and imagine living the life of Elizabeth Fritzl.

The case of Elizabeth, an abused victim by the man she trusted, was highlighted in late April 2008. She has been living in a dungeon dug by her evil dad for 24 years…minus sunlight. She was practically facing walls for 24 years. Ceiling built no higher than 5’6, Elizabeth and her three other children (whom her own father fathered all of them) had cramped themselves in the dungeon which is poorly air ventilated. Limited mobility, limited space for stretching, limited air, no outside world exposure, no communication, etc…such life has taken a great toll on Elizabeth and her children’s health.

Weak bones, badly decayed teeth, weak muscles, pale skin, poor vision…

Few days ago, I was feeling low. Depressed. This carried on for a few days until today, when I stumble across an article online describing Elizabeth’s life for the past 24 years.

I cried as I learnt the life of Elizabeth for the past 24 years. In a split second, deep in my mind, I knew I am extremely lucky and should be grateful that I have a set of parents who showers me with endless love. I can confide my problems to them, I can seek their advice and help, I can put my 100% trust on them.

But life was hell for Elizabeth. She had no one to confide, she can no longer trust people. All she can do was to obey her evil dad’s command (be it rape or threat) in order to live. If it wasn’t for the love she has for her children, I believe (this is strictly my own opinion), she would have ended her life.

At any moment you feel that your life sucks, put yourself in Elizabeth’s situation. You will eventually learn that life is actually beautiful.

Kukus Banana Muffin

2008-05-12T07:39:00.003+08:00

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates! Hehe.

I've been transferred to another department in my office and my workload is double now! I know...lame excuse rite? But anyhow, i will try my best to 2 - 3 recipes per week, or at least two recipes per week. TO all my friends out there who are keen to try out the recipes I've posted here, please bear with me ya...hope you guys understand:) Hopefully in 3 months time I'll have more time for myself rather than my yucky office work...hehe..

As for now, please enjoy this healthy steamed Banana Muffin. It's super soft and best consumed hot!!!!! Ya...that's when you go...oooo...mmmm....ahhh....kekeke!

Ingredients:

3 eggs
110g of sugar
220g of plain flour
1.5 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of soda bicarbonate
100g of melted butter
300g of mashed banana (preferably over riped type)

Optional : Handful of chocolate chips or any kind of nuts

Method:

Beat eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl for about 2 minutes.
Sift in the plain flour, baking powder and soda bicarbonate into the egg mixture. Using a hand whisk, whisk the mixture well.
Pour in melted butter and mashed banana and whisk till well combined. At this moment, you may leave the batter as it is or you may add in chocolates chips and nuts :)
Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin pan lined with paper cups. Steam over rapid boiling water for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the muffin comes out clean. Serve hot!

Aiyer....

2008-05-07T08:40:00.004+08:00

Aiyer...why liddat 1???

Yesterday someone cursed me. I'm positive. I don't know who but i know SOMEONE cursed me. *roll eyes*

As usual, after work i went straight home and ready to bake my first chiffon cake. Everything was in order and everything looks good! SO, after putting my chiffon cake batter into the oven, i cleaned the counter top...messy messy with all the flour and juice..

And then i picked up my recipe book to place it back to the cabinet. Somehow, i just need to re-read everything again in the recipe...ingredients and method. For your information, i was making an orange chiffon cake.

As i read, to my horror, i am supposed to substitute 5 tbsp of water to 5 tbsp of orange juice to turn a basic chiffon cake to orange chiffon cake. Guess what i did? Haha!! I put BOTH....5 tbsp of water + 5 tbsp of orange juice!!!!! OKay...cool down cool down...think and pray...i prayed hard that my chiffon cake will eventually turn out alright....i mean 5 tbsp juice..no big deal right? I hope.

So i checked the cake batter in the oven...ei...not bad wor...rose beautifully...no cracks...smooth...and so...the method in the recipe book said that after baking the cake at 150DC for 30 minutes i should increase the temperature to 180DC and continue baking until cooked. So after 30 minutes i increased the oven temperature to 180DC. While waiting, i placed my saggy butt on a chair and read newspaper. 5 minutes passed.....suddenly...i smelled something burnt! MY GOD!!!!!!

RUshed to the oven...found the top part of the cake burnt!!!! I quickly grabbed the heat proof gloves and took out the cake pan.....either the gloves are not working or i did not put on the gloves properly...because of my exaggerated reflex action (palms touched the surface of the freaking hot cake pan) I DROPPED THE HALF COOKED CAKE ON THE FLOOR!!!!!! YIKES!!!!!!!!!

As best as i could, i used my impromptu kung fu act to 'save' the cake pan and *crack*.....ouch! I twisted my poor back. I tell u, even neighbors living a few doors away could hear my soprano voice! I screamed like hell and my mom was like What Happened What Happened??!??!

I sat down...stiff....like a robot...couldn't move. Tears were welling up my eyes....i was excruciating in pain!!!! Mom quickly applied Counter Pain ointment to my back and i sat down in the kitchen for 20 minutes before i can move freely again.

Needless to say, my first attempt to bake chiffon cake was a disaster!!!! EVen today, in office, i had to stick on 3 patches of Salon Pas to my poor back.

Sigh....

100% Whole Wheat Bread

2008-05-06T08:15:00.000+08:00

Oh my god....I guess i didn't buy bread that often (i always pester my mom to buy...hehe) until a few days ago, i went to our famous convenient store, 7 Eleven, to buy a loaf of Gardenia Wholemeal Bread. I remembered only paying RM2.70 the last time i bought the loaf of bread but guess what's the amount showed on the cash register?

FREAKING RM 3!! What!!!!! I didn't know the bread price has risen!

Okay....i guess i'm a little overacted...but come on la....for a frequent bread consumer like me (2 loafs per week on average basis), i will need to pay RM6 per week....which means RM24 per month...which mean RM288 per year...just for bread!

Yikes!! So people...why not start baking your own healthy bread? You can make your own bread as healthy as you want, as grainy as you want, as low fat as you want..sounds interesting? Hehe!

I found this recipe in the manual that comes with the bread machine i have at home. End result? Superb! However the bread turned tough the next day....my dear cousin advised me to include bread improver in my next bread making attempt...this way, the bread will become softer and much yummier i guess? Nevertheless, this recipe is yummy! Enjoy!

Ingredients :

1 cup of water
2 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tsp of salt (DB omitted this)
3 tbsp of light brown sugar, firmly packed (DB used molasses)
1 tbsp of shortening
2 tbsp of dry milk (DB used organic soy milk powder)
1 1/4 tsp of yeast
1 cup of Organic mixed grains (optional...not suggested in the manual)

Method:

Put all ingredients into the bread machine in accordance to the steps as suggested in the manual. Select 'Rye' setting. Sit back and relax for 2.50 hrs. Enjoy the freshly baked healthy bread

Mmmm....my slice of freshly baked hot healthy bread...

I signed up for PPP!

2008-05-05T22:29:00.007+08:00

It never comes across my mind that I would sign up for a paid post. This is because initially I take blogging as leisure, for I knew I will only blog if I can afford the time. However, as time goes by, I find myself addicted to blogging! I found myself uploading new post every other day.

My cousin, SueSue-The CookingMomster, who encouraged me to start my own blog, advised me to sign up for paid post. Hence, I went to her blog page and saw the PPP (PayPerPost), a blog network advertisement. Without much hesitation, I clicked on the ad to check out further information regarding PPP. As I read on about PPP, I became more interested. Think about this, you blog about something and PPP reward you for the post! How cool is that!

I also understand that you may even earn up to USD500 a month by writing a sponsored post. So tell me, how on earth one is not tempted to sign up for PPP and enjoy a lavish extra income to support your shopping splurge! Furthermore, you’ll enjoy the publicity of your humble blog page just by becoming an advertiser!

Wait no more and sign up for PPP right away! Trust me, no regrets! For further information, click the following link. Opportunities are always there waiting for you to grab!

Presenting.....POtatoCream

2008-05-05T08:53:00.008+08:00

Attention to all beautiful, spiritual & lovely ladies out there....!!!

Few weeks ago, i was introduced to this colorful website by my bestie. What is this website about? POtatocream....sounds interesting eh? NOpe...nothing about potato salad, nothing about tater tots (fried potato balls), nothing about food....but it's all about APPARELS & BAGS!

Now why am i blogging about this colorful wesbite? Nope, i don't do it for rewards and nope, this is not a part time job. To all visitors that have been following my blog posts, you may know i'm a food-junkie freak. SUdden change of wind, i'm blogging about an online boutique. WHy?

This is why. I have recently purchased a bag from them. It was a fast and efficient service. Best of all, i received what i expected and interpreted from the wordy description of the bag by PotatoCream. I AM TRULY SUPERBLY EXTREMELY SATISFIED!!!!! :P

Payment was easy too! Often when we wish to purchase something online, it'll be a hassle when it comes to make payment (at least for me)....i'll always need to deal with USD. It's problematic! Why? Because different seller quote different exchange rates...thus you will need to put in extra effort to google for the best priced item. That's putting me off!

POtatocream is different! For the benefits of us living in Malaysia, we can easily make a payment transaction over our local bank counter. And did i mention that the banks they used are Public Bank and Maybank? You can easily locate these two banks at any corner of any place. Pretty convenient aye???!

Plus, they are really efficient in shipping out the product. The moment i paid for my bag, POtatocream shipped out my bag the very same day....thus guaranteeing you to receive your lovely parcel within few days period....at latest...a week! How cool eh??!

I know i know...be patient la...let me talk more about this website before i reveal the address k? hehe...

Potatocream has a wide selection of apparels and bags but limited in quantities. This way, you can avoid bumping into another woman who may wear the same apparel as you....yaya...saves you from further embarrassment if the outfit looks better on her rather than you...hahaha...just kidding...but seriously, no kidding...their apparels and bags are rather unique and lovely!!!

My bestie who introduced me to this colorful website has bought a massive amount of tops from them. She was bragging non stop in her blog page about how satisfied she is with POtatocream and how lovely the apparels were on her. POtatocream was wow-ed and awe-ed by her...they decided to name my bestie as PotatoQueen....hahaha! Drop by POtatocream, and you'll know what i mean...

WHATCHA WAITING FOR?? HERE IT IS

http://www.potatocream.com/

Enjoy splurging....be sure to get hold of your hubbie's bank account....hehehe...trust me, you will not be able to resist clicking 'buy me'.......hmm, did i just misplace my bb's account?? kekekeke!! Shhhh!

Kuih Serimuka

2008-05-03T02:08:00.004+08:00

Okla....looks very ugly la...:P

Hello everybody!

How was labour day? Good? Best? or bad + worst?????? Good or bad...i hope you all enjoy most of it as it's our day! The day that marks the appreciation of our hard efforts, sweat and blood......by holidaying...kekekekek! Agree?

So, to rejoice this memorable day...i opted to make this sweet and salty kuih...this kuih is actually the 'twin' of Kuih Talam...both had a salty bottom layer and topped with sweet layer. The only difference is that one has glutinous rice as the bottom layer.

A tasty and yummy kuih is greatly complimented by the coconut milk....coconut milk plays an important role in making kuih....thus, it's best to use fresh coconut milk from the local sundry shop or wet market:)

Let's not waste time blablabla-ing anymore...enjoy the recipe below and be sure to share out the kuih with as many people as possible...as this is rather fattening and unhealthy (high cholesterol oooooo) but very yummylicious...sigh....how leh??? hehe!

Ingredients & method:
Bottom Layer

350g of glutinous rice (soaked overnight)
150ml coconut milk
pinch of salt

Drain the soaked glutinous rice and combine together with coconut milk and salt in a pan. Steam over high heat for 20 minutes. Fluff the rice after steaming. When it's rather cool to room temperature, use the aluminium foil to press the glutinous rice down and firmly packed to the steam pan.

Top Layer

3 medium eggs
220ml coconut milk
100g castor sugar
2 tbsp custard powder
2 tbsp plain flour

Combine all ingredients together and strain over the steamed glutinous rice. Steam on high heat for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it in the steamer for 10 minutes before taking it out and cool to room temperature. Do not attempt to cut the kuih if it's not cooled....otherwise it'll look ugly and messy.

Chinese Peanut Pancake / Man Jien Kuih

2008-04-26T10:38:00.005+08:00

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:

Combine all the batter ingredients in a mixing bowl using a whisk. Set aside the smooth and silky batter for 30 minutes.
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.
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

2008-04-25T08:16:00.001+08:00

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

2008-04-23T11:23:00.004+08:00

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

2008-04-21T16:48:00.003+08:00

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

2008-04-21T08:33:00.004+08:00

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

2008-04-18T10:29:00.003+08:00

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!

2008-04-17T16:25:00.003+08:00

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

2008-04-16T13:06:00.004+08:00

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

2008-04-16T08:51:00.001+08:00

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 :

Preheat oven to 180 DC. Lined baking trays with baking sheets.
Cream butter, shortenings & both types of sugars till pale yellow/brown color.
Add in eggs (one at a time) and beat well with the butter mixture, followed by the vanilla extract.
In another big bowl, measure out all the remaining dry ingredients and whisk well.
Fold in the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Mix well to form a soft dough.
Take a pinch of the dough (abt 1/2 tbsp). Roll between your palms to a ball and flatten it.
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

2008-04-14T08:40:00.004+08:00

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

2008-04-10T20:23:00.000+08:00

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

2008-04-09T12:38:00.002+08:00

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

2008-04-09T09:22:00.003+08:00

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

Boil a packet of spaghetti till Al-Dente
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.
Pour a can of the mushroom soup into the pot and add half can of water to the pot.
Stir until the mixture is silky and creamy in the pot.
Season with dashes of black pepper. Dish up to a bowl of spaghetti. Serve hot

Stir fry cabbage with chopped garlic

Heat a tbsp of oil in a wok. Sauteed the garlic till fragrant.
Add the cabbage and continue stir frying till cook. Add ½ tsp of salt to the cooked cabbage and turn off the heat.
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

2008-04-09T09:03:00.001+08:00

<---- 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:

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.
In a bowl, stir together plain flour, wholemeal flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until blended and stir in the brown sugar, butter and milk.
Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches alternately with the mashed bananas, and stir with a spatula until just blended. Do not over mix.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with the spatula. (Optional: Stud the top of the batter with slices of bananas).
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.
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

2008-04-07T14:46:00.005+08:00

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

450g peanuts (skinned and powdered them in a food processor)
350g plain flour
1 ½ tsp of baking powder
½ tsp of salt
200g icing sugar
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

2008-04-07T12:00:00.001+08:00

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:

Preheat oven to 180 Degrees C. Grease Baking pan.
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)
Add chopped walnuts and stir together.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, and then add this to the chocolate mixture.
Beat in the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.
Pour your brownie mixture into the baking tray, bake for around 25 minutes.

Not Being Responsible

2008-04-04T16:04:00.003+08:00

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

2008-04-04T08:15:00.001+08:00

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:

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

2008-04-03T23:44:00.003+08:00

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

2008-04-03T09:06:00.003+08:00

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:

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)
Cut the roti pratha into the portion/size you desire.
Put an amount of mixed veggies and baked beans on a piece of roti pratha.
Lay another piece of roti on top and seal the edges by pressing them lightly.
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??

2008-04-01T10:24:00.002+08:00

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

2008-04-01T08:26:00.001+08:00

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.

Coca Cola Chicken

2008-03-31T08:17:00.007+08:00

Coca Cola Chicken

TeeHee~! It's Sunday again. We usually stay home for dinner on Sunday and i'll get to test my skills on cooking.

The Chef : Dumb-Baker

The White Rat : Dumb-Baker's BB...wakakakaka

Dish of the Nite : Coca Cola Chicken
Accompaniment : Pan fry fish ( i have no idea what is the name of this fish ) + Self creation "Loh Hon Chye"
Something to digest : Stir fry "Choi Sum" + Stir Fry Lady's Finger w/ dried shrimps & chili.
Soup of the Nite : Old cucumber with anchovies + dried scallops + dried cuttlefish + dried oyster

This Coca Cola Chicken....the first time i tasted it was in Calorie's Cafe in Sri Petaling. The taste is between Sweet and Sour Chicken & Honey Baked Chicken. Last week, i saw a 1.5L of unopen bottle of Coca Cola sitting in the fridge. Then suddenly i had this 'bulb' in my mind...ha...i'm gonna make my own version of Coca Cola Chicken.

To be honest, i have no idea on how to prepare the chicken. I have not google any websites and have no seek any advice from other great cook. This is my experimental dish...if you are bold enough to try it out, please...my pleasure :> I find the chicken a bit too sweet...maybe i should reduce the amount of coke next time. Other than that, i thought it was yummy. The white rat commented that the chicken is a bit too sweet...other than that, it's fine......Yay! My experimental chicken is not going to the trash bin! Applause! Applause!

What you need :
1 chicken breast (cut into small pieces)
a small knob of ginger (thinly sliced)
some chopped onions (i chopped half of a big onion)
1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
dashes of salt and pepper
1 1/2 cup of Coca Cola (you might want to reduce to 1 cup)

What you need to do :
Combine all the ingredients together and leave it marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hr. Heat some oil in the pan/wok. Using chopsticks, pick out the chicken into the wok. Stir fry for about 2 minutes on medium fire. Pour the remaining liquid into the chicken and simmer for 20 minutes with lid covering the wok. Stir occasionally. Thicken the sauce with cornflour and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Dish it up and serve hot.

Variations of Soft Buns

2008-03-31T07:56:00.000+08:00

Yipee! It's bun baking time again. I love it when it's Friday...cuz every Friday after work, i'll always head to the supermarket first before going home. I shall then load my car with flour, butter, etc...depending on what i want to bake that night.

So on Friday night, i made these sweet buns adapted from Florence's Wonderfully Soft Bread recipe. When it comes to buns, SAUSAGE BUN is a MUST in my list. Arms with all the ingredients and other 'ka changs' (utensils), i started the bun baking journey around 8pm.
Using Florence's recipe, i dumped all the ingredients in my breadmachine and set it to dough cycle. During the 1st few minutes to mixing, i used a plastic spatula to scrap down the sides on the pan to ensure well mixing. After the kneading cycle (my breadmachine took about 1.5hrs), I did a proofing test on the dough. To ensure the dough is well proofed, press the dough with your pointer, the indention should stay a while and draws back very slowly to its origin state. Otherwise allow the dough to proof for another 20 minutes or so and perform the same test again.

Bring the dough onto a lightly floured surface, punch out the gas from the dough and knead and shape as you desired. Rest the dough for 15 minutes before baking them in oven. I varied the sweet buns to Cinnamon Buns & Sausage Buns.

Verdict : True to its name...WONDERFULLY SOFT BREAD!!! Very soft and fluffly...boy oh boy...it stays soft even the next day! Like what Florence said, if you are a bread lover, this is definitely a must try recipe!

These babies came out fresh from the oven at 10:30pm...though it was a long wait, the end products definitely put a smile on your face ;>

Note : The dough was kinda sticky when i brought it out from the breadmaker. I had to add the plain flour bit by bit to keep the dough out of my palm. But as you knead the dough, it will somehow become more managable and un-sticky.

Left : Dough Proofing in the Breadmachine

Right : Mini Cinnamon Rolls and Sausage Buns-

Healthy Drink

2008-03-28T07:56:00.003+08:00

The other day i saw this Health Drink post in my cousin's blog page. She actually made this Enzyme drink by slicing the fresh fruits thinly and stack them up in a glass container. The fruits are finally topped with chunks of palm sugar before sealing the container tightly and have it stored in a cool dry place. This container of fruits will be fermented for about 2 weeks before consumed. I am not really sure if you drink the concentrated enzyme drink itself or have it diluted with water as i have yet to experiment the recipe itself. This enzyme drink, if you do google about it, is somewhat a natural healing therapy for our body systems. It helps us to expel the toxic in our body and generally improves our digestive system. The Enzyme drink is also available in the leading pharmacies.

Taste wise, some people claim that it's yummy while some claim that it's sour. One of my close friend commented that she will not even try to taste it as she's afraid of being intoxicated!! (since it's fermented). I personally have not tried the drink. However, I'm bold enough to give this enzyme drink a try and i shall update the enzyme drink post soon.

For the time being, do visit here, here and here for more info. Cheers~!

Basic Muffin

2008-03-27T08:07:00.003+08:00

Top right : Corn muffin ; Bottom Right : Peanut Butter Choc Chip muffin

Sorry for not updating recently as dumb-baker was ill for a few days. To resume my blog posting, i'll start with a basic muffin recipe. I have this thick baking book by King Arthur Flour collecting dust in my cabinet. The reason why i didn't use this book is because i personally indulge more in home-baked-and-tested kind of desserts/snacks rather than the commercially written recipe in a book. But something just propelled me to look through this thick book of mine and try my luck on one of the recipe. As it was already past 8pm, i thought i should just resolve to bake something easy and simple....and no messy cleaning of course. And here it is, the All Star Muffin recipe. This muffin, oooo let me tell you...super soft in texture!!!! Its sweetness is just right for my tastebud and this basic muffin is really soft and fluffy.

Having baked the vanilla muffin for so many times, i decided to do a lil twist to the recipe. After making the basic batter of the muffin, i divided the batter into half. I added peanut butter with chocolate chips to one half of the batter and added creamy corn with extra frozen corn to the other half of the batter. The peanut butter muffin is such a kick! In every bite of the muffin, you'll be able to taste the flavorful peanut butter....not forgetting about the choc chips too! As for the corn muffins, ah ha...though it's not as good as Kenny Rogers corn muffins....but it's good enough to be graded as Yummy.....well...judging from my dad's quick chomped down muffin reaction after i had taken out the to muffin cool on the dining table. Anyway, to cut the story short, here's the recipe :

All Star Muffin (yields 8 muffins)

4 oz. butter
1 1/2 cup of sugar
2 medium size eggs
1 tsp of vanilla essence
1/2 cup of sour cream (i substituted with 1/2 cup milk + 2 tsp lemon juice)
2 1/2 cup of self raising flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of salt

Method

Cream butter and sugar till light yellow in color.
Beat in eggs to the butter mixture, one at a time. Scrap down the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure well mixing of the ingredients.
Add in vanilla essence followed by the sour cream. Mix well. (pic 1)
Sift in the dry ingredients (self raising flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) to the wet mixture. Mix well using low speed of the mixer for about 1-1.5 minutes. (pic 2)
Scoop mixture into the paper cups until 85% full. Bake in preheated oven of 175 DC for 20-25 minutes or until cooked.

Notes:

I divided my muffin batter into half.
For peanut butter choc chip muffin : I added about 100g of peanut butter (i used the crunchy peanut butter)and half cup of chocolate chip.(pic 4)
For corn muffin : I added about 1/2 cup of creamy corn + 3 tbsp of extra frozen corn. (pic 3)

An Ooomph For the Constipated Days

2008-03-26T08:04:00.001+08:00

Ever since i had a drastic change of weight, my body system has somehow 'given up' hope on me. I am always feeling cold and my mood swings are even worse than the weather. Haha! (thx bb for being patient with me). I'm lucky to have a lot of family members and friends who showered me with endless care and concern. During my 'weak' period, i am introduced to many types of food supplements and nourishing soup to restore back my body system. I'm pleased to announced that I am now feeling much much better and healthier.

But....

My digestive system remains at the poor stage. Many of us suffer constipation in silence....i mean who-lah will rip off their dignity and practically brag about his/her not-so-smooth-toilet moments to the public. Despite having consumed vast amount of food supplements and fruits, something in my body system that will just resist me from visiting the toilet. However, few weeks ago, i discovered my very own disgestive theraphy. To date, this theraphy stays effective on me. Give this a try, might works well on you during your constipated days :)

1. Make a cup of Nescafe first thing in the morning. Leave it to cool to room temperature (about half an hour). Drink it on empty stomach.

2. Have a slice of wheat bread loaded with bananas after the coffee.

Almost Vegan Coconut Cake.....

2008-03-22T02:48:00.000+08:00

I have never been vegetarian in my life until 2 years ago, whereby i started to follow my bf to the temple. Besides weekly prayers and chantings in the temple, i am also required to practice vegetarian on every lunar 1st and 15th of the month. In the beginning, i felt a bit uneasy to omit meat in my meals (though it's only for a day)...probably due the carnivorous genes in my family. But as time goes by, I begin to appreciate the V term in my life. There are literally tens of pages/webs if you Google about the pros of being a vegetarian. In my point of view, though it's good to practice vegetarian, I don't see any harm of having meat in your meals as long as the intake is in moderation.

Yesterday, as i looked through my recipe collection file, i saw this Coconut Cake recipe. This recipe was actually meant to be a vegan recipe, but i substituted one of the ingredients and so, I renamed this recipe as Almost Vegan Coconut Cake. If you like coconut, you'll definitely love this cake. It's moist, a little crunchy texture, and most importantly, the aroma of the coconut milk which played an important role in this vegan cake. Oh, don't get turnoff with the tofu in the ingredients...trust me, you won't even know it's actually there in the recipe as u consume the cake.

The only drawback of this cake is that i find it a bit too sweet for my taste bud. You may want to reduce the amount of sugar if you are health conscious or an-absolute-growing-waistline-hater.

Recipe (yields a 9 inch pan)

about 120g of soft tofu
1 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of dessicated coconut
1 1/4 of cup sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil (i substituted this with melted butter)
2 1/2 cups of self raising flour

Methods

Combine tofu, coconut milk, dessicated coconut, sugar and oil in a food processor. Blend thoroughly to a thick puree texture.

Sift the self raising flour in a mixing bowl.

Pour the thick puree into the mixing bowl of flour.

Mix with spatula until well combined. The texture of the cake mixture will be rather thick and heavy.

Pour the cake mixture into a prepared lined baking pan. Smooth the top layer of the cake mixture.

Bake in preheated oven of 175 DC for 50 minutes or until cooked.

Step-By-Step Photo Illustration

Rice Cooker Pot Chicken Rice

2008-03-19T08:01:00.006+08:00

OK, I don't have a claypot at home. My family can never get a decent claypot....there were a few times when we bought the claypot, they are always leaking or defective in certain places. Hence, mom said, "don't waste the money to invest on claypot anymore". Any advice on where i can get a decent-no-leakage claypot?

So no claypot....how to make claypot chicken rice? Ah ha....rice cooker may be a good replacement. It's pretty easy to make an almost-hawker-stall type of claypot chicken rice. All you need to prepare is :

Ingredients (for 2 persons meal):

2 chicken thighs, chopped to bite sizes

2 waxed meat (chinese sausage), sliced abt 5mm thick

3 presoaked mushrooms (sliced thinly)

two small onions, finely chopped

about 2 cm ginger, finely chopped

2 cups of rice, thoroughly rinsed

2 cups of water

some finely chopped fried salted fish + chives for garnishing (optional)

Sauce for marination : Oyster Sauce + Dark soy sauce + Light soy sauce + Chinese cooking wine + dashes of black pepper (I've prepared the sauce in my own estimation...so no exact measurement)

Methods

Marinate the chopped chicken thighs with sauce overnight.

Lightly oil the wok and sauteed the onions and ginger till fragrant.

Add in chicken thighs, mushrooms and waxed meat and stir fry them for a good 2 minutes over medium heat.

Add in rice and water to the wok, continue stir frying for a minute.

Turn off the heat and transfer everything from the wok to the rice cooker pot.

Set your rice cooker to 'cook' and allow 8-10 minutes to keep warm before serving.

Garnish your plate/bowl of chicken rice with chopped chives and salted fish as you desire.

Now, I do have a rice cooker at home but KO-ed last week. So what i can utilise is just the rice cooker pot. *Panic* No rice cooker...sei lor....a minute after ransacking the kitchen's cabinet, i found this super huge pot. Ha! I can do it in a conventional-rice-cooking-way.....maybe. After transferring the kinda-raw-chicken rice to the rice cooker pot, i had the pot sit over an inch of water in the huge pot. Put the lid over the huge pot and let it 'steamed' over medium fire for 35 minutes.

My other half said the rice seemed to be a little too soggy....i guess i have over steamed the rice...but can't blame me, this is my first time cooking rice over the stove k. *pout* Having said the rice is soggy, my other half actually helped himself with 3 bowlfuls of rice...could it be because he's my ever supportive fan or because the rice is yummy despite soggy? Haha...try out the recipe yourself and you'll be the best judge :)

My version of rice-cooker-pot-chicken-rice

I have a Dream....

2008-03-18T17:44:00.000+08:00

No. I'm not Martin Luther King.

My laptop shows 5.30pm, 15 minutes later i can start counting the OT payment. *Smack* Wake up..stop dreaming and stop the bull**** about OT k..

IKO oatmeal cookies. Ah....this is my dream

Trespasses my brain and glue itself there, my god....why must it happen today after my binge eating on cookies last night?

Oh boy! I'm going to get myself IKO cookies after work tonight. Yes...it's final and i'm getting the cookies. Cheap. Healthy. Yummy. My other half will probably start the grandma's nagging about me taking too much junkies if he finds out i'm not taking proper meals...bb, if u r reading this, i'll cease eating junk foods for a month if you do the cooking for Sunday's dinner for a month. Good deal?

Sausage Buns

2008-03-18T11:31:00.004+08:00

Fellow friends and visitors, guess you guys know that i'm a bread and cookies maniac. And so, if i'm such a great fan of starch, how could i miss the fun of baking breads and buns rite?? Of all buns, sausage buns remain at the top of my list. Whenever i visit the bakery, the first thing i look for is sausage buns. I like it when the buns are ultimately soft...unlike some of the burger buns which are dry and crumbly (well not all, but most of the burger buns i've eaten are dry in texture).

So, i googled my favorite sites for an ultimate soft bun recipe and this is what i found. Ooo lala....after reading all the comments from the visitors, i can't wait to try out the recipe. This recipe yields me wonderfully soft buns and it's really delicious. The buns remained soft even until the next morning....! Another plus sign for me to bake buns is that i owned a breadmaker machine....i don't hafta go thru the tedious job of kneading and proofing and kneading again....just dump everything in the breadmaker..turn on the switch and wait for 1.5 hrs to shape the buns in your own preferred way...now, is there any reason that will withhold me from baking buns? DEFINITELY NOPE :P

Ladies & Gentlemen : Let me present you the Ultimate Soft Gigantic Sausage Buns

Sui Kow & Kow Zi

2008-03-17T10:01:00.004+08:00

My other half is an ardent fan of soup based 'sui kow'. Each time we go out for 'wantan' noodle meal, he never fails to ask me this :

bb : Gg, you want sui kow?
me: Dun wan la.
bb : oklor (sounded disappointed...but....)
[waiter came to our table to take our order]
bb : 2 plates of wantan noodle and 1 big bowl of sui kow

despite me not eating the sui kow with him, he will still continue order a bowl of it.

So, on Friday night, i texted him this :
Don't eat breakfast alone tomorrow. I'm gonna stuff you mouth with food i'll be making tomorrow morning.

Haha...i'm one abusive girlfriend on earth.

So, woke up as early as 630 in the morning and begin my mouth-stuffing-food project.
For Sui Kow:

I had the minced pork marinated overnight with sesame oil, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and dashes of black pepper. I'm sorry i can't list down the precise measurements of ingredients as i've prepared everything in estimation...in other words...agak agak version :P Next, shelled the shrimps, seasoned them and rinse them under running water...this method will actually yield a 'springy' shrimp! I've also cut some black fungus into thin strips and add them to the pork mixture before making the sui kow. To assemble, firstly, take a piece of sui kow wrapper (similar to wantan wrapper but in circular shape), lay a piece of shrimp and top with the pork and black fungus mixture. To seal the sui kow, dabbed the corner of the wrapper with water and seal it. I've made a pot of anchovies soup and added some 'tung choy' (salty preserved vege) to compliment the soup's taste. Dump the nicely wrapped sui kows into the pot of boiling soup. The sui kows are ready when they float onto the surface of the soup. Serve the sui kows hot and compliment with some cut cili padi......oooo syiok!

For the kow zi, i've adapted the ingredients and methods for the skin here. For the fillings, I had 1 jicama/sengkuang/chinese turnip and 1 carrot shredded thingly. I've also sliced 3 presoaked mushrooms thinly. Lightly oil your in a pot/wok over medium fire and stir fry the fillings until semi soft. Add in dark soy sauce, soy sauce, some salt and pepper and some sugar to the fillings and continue stir-frying for a minute or two. Again, the seasonings i've added to the fillings are all estimation. You may adjust the seasonings according to your taste bud. To assemble the kow zi, take a piece of prepared skin for the kow zi, put the fillings and wrap the kow zi in your own preferred shape. Remember not to overload the skin with fillings or have the edges of the skin came in contact with the liquid from the fillings....otherwise you'll have a hard time sealing the kow zi or worst still, you may end up 'patching' the holes of the skin..hahaha! Finally, arrange them in a tray and steam over boiling water for 15 minutes or until the skin is translucent. Serve hot!

Here's my version of sui kow and kow zi....TADAAAAAA......enjoy!

Kow Zi

Sui Kow in anchovies soup with some green vegetables

Lemoney-lemon cake

2008-03-17T09:25:00.005+08:00

The Lemoney-lemon Cake

Crap...lemoney lemon...i wonder if there's such word. Hehe.

OKay....here i go with my baking utensils...all set to bake my first ever lemon cake. ON first thought, i hesitated a while to bake this cake because :
1. This recipe calls for sour cream (after searching high and low in the fridge, i do not have sour cream)
2. This is supposed to be a sour but not too sour, sweet but not too sweet, kind of cake...
3. The lemon glazing...ah ha...i dun usually make glazing for my cakes but i supposed this lemoney lemon cake will definitely taste better with the glazing.

After minutes of indecisive moments, i finally decided to give it a try...fingers crossed, hopefully the cake will not turn out bad (as this cake is supposed to be given to my relatives who came from Singapore for a short holiday).

Ngek Ngek Ngek... all you peeps and folks, this cake is a blaster! The texture is right, the taste is right, everything is just right, despite the absence of the sour cream.

Ingredients

1 block of butter

3/4 cups of sugar

3 eggs

2 cups of self raising flour, sifted

1 teaspoon of salt

grated zest of a lemon

1/2 cup of sour cream (I substituted the sour cream with half cup of low fat milk and juice of half a lemon)

Glazing : Mix slightly less than half cup of icing sugar with 3 tbsp of melted butter and 2 tsp of lemon juice

Methods

Preheat the oven at 180 DC.

Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl till light and fluffy.

Add in eggs to the butter mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add in sifted flour and salt to the mixture and continue mixing for 1 minute.

Scrap down the sides of mixing bowl with a spatula, add in grated zest of lemon and pour in the sour cream.

Continue mixing for another minute.

Pour the mixture into the lined baking pan. Smooth the surface with a spatula before baking the cake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean after being insert in the cake.

Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack overnight.

Next morning, prepare the glazing and spread them generously on the cake before chilling the cake in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Cornflakes Cookies

2008-03-17T08:54:00.004+08:00

This cookies never fail to attract my attention especially during CNY. Even after buying tubs of them from the night market, me, being greedy, will definitely bake tubs of this cookies too. I just enjoy munching them as they are real crunchy and they are really addictive. So if you are watching your weight, it's wise to take of an amount of cookies that you wanted to eat on to a plate instead of grabbing a tub of cookies and munching them while watching the TV.

Okay...let's get started with the easy peasy recipe...yippee!!!

Ingredients

450g of butter
about 550g of plain flour, sifted
1 egg
1 cup of castor sugar ( i used only 3/4 cup of sugar)
about 2 cups of cornflakes, crushed lightly

Method

Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer until the mixture turns pale yellow.
Add in the egg and continue mixing the mixture well, scrap down the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure the mixture are all mixed well.
Put the mixer away and pour in the sifted flour in the mixing bowl.
Now, with clean hands, start mixing the flour mixture to form a dough. If you find the dough too sticky to handle, add more plain flour to the dough.
Take a pinch of the dough and roll into a small ball with your palms. Continue this process with the rest of the dough.
Roll the balls of cookies into the bowl of crushed cornflakes and place them on a baking tray lined with baking sheets.
Bake in preheated oven at 180DC for 20 minutes or till golden brown.

The greedy me chomped down 4 cookies immediately after taking out the tray of cookies from the oven and needless to say, i burnt my tongue. Haha...i mean, how can you resist these mout-watering cookies when the aroma of these cookies engulfed the whole house of yours while baking in the oven? Certainly not me!

The above recipe yields me 1 big and 3 small tubs of cookies

Monday Blue

2008-03-17T08:51:00.002+08:00

I DO NOT LIKE MONDAYS UNLESS IT'S A HOLIDAY.

gosh...i'm missing my smelly bolster already...