Chicken Run… July 19, 2009

With the catering gig looming…only four days to go, my mum has been busy with the preparations. This weekend it was the chicken pies. So me and my sister had to help her put together 400++ pies. A bit sad cause I was hoping to be able to bring back stuff for my classmates but ended up doing nothing cause of the nausea we all developed after too much exposure to pastry dough. Guess they’ll have to wait until my next trip home.

The shells and the filling

The finished product

In between the pie making we still managed to squeeze in a shopping trip. My and my lil sister went to Pavillion with a list of things in mind but came back with a whole lot of “want” stuff but not the “need” stuff. Haha..biasalah tu. But I still need a new bag. My old ones literally shedding its outer layer!

More Cupcakes… July 10, 2009

Made some cup cakes to thank the people who helped us in our electives. The wheather in Malaysia is really not the best for confectionery cause the silver manik thingys started to melt and the fondant was absorbing moisture. Hope it was good though.

This time we aimed for a more palatable variety rather than the previous “heaven to the eyes, hell to the tongue” ones we made previously. The cupcakes were chocolate instead of the vanilla ones we made before. The frosting, we alternated between just plain melted chocolate and a chocolate laced butter cream icing. Both went surprisingly well considering the fact that I’m not a fan of buttercream. Really hoping that the cream was still okay when it got to the recipients. Haha.. The cupcakes I have here are the extras…only realised after packing that I forgot to take pics…d’oh!

Chocolatey Good...

Here are some of the cupcakes we made previously..didn’t have time to upload them earlier.. These are vanilla ones with royal icing…so its hard and keeps better as it dries out..

Busy…Busy..Busy June 24, 2009

Its the end of electives. Thats why I haven’t been updating my blog…not that anyone even reads it. Haha. So today we are going home. The reports all done save for the discussion and conclusion. Spent too much time on analysis. Who knew we had to really twist and turn the data to make it significant and even then its still not! So we’ll just give up there.Its just a pilot study..the ridiculous time limit and number of patient proved detrimental to our results. Hope the larger scale study will be better…

My Non- Scientific Experiment June 20, 2009

Since I’ve been pestering my mum to make decorated cup cakes, she baked a batch and told me to do it myself..haha. So I happily hacked away at the fondant and managed to come up with this…I’m so proud of it!!!

My babies...my precioussss

Look at em...

Just look at it!!

Haha..okay. I’m gonna keep it away. Haha…

So, again, feel free to order…

Ker-Pauuu!!! June 20, 2009

Every once in a while my house turns into a pau making factory. Today I woke up to helf her make the Kaya and Kacang pau my uncle ordered.. Let me take you on a tour of what we did:

First we had to weigh the dough and ball em up…

After filling, its off to the steamer..

Tadaa…

Packed about to be sealed using our trusty sealer..

Ready to ship…

The paus are usually frozen and reheated when its to be eaten. As with any other food item on this page, you can order this from my mum by calling her at 03-41067695

The Reason(s) I Couldn’t Wait To Go Home June 19, 2009

I’m back in KL for the weekend. A bit unplanned but when anor said that she felt like going home I totally jumped at the idea! If anyone remembers, I mentioned in a previous post that 17th June was food tasting day for the English Tea party the ATM was going to organise. So I am back in KL to attack the leftovers…

The moment I got of the bus, I got on a taxi and told the driver to take me on the shortest route he knows. Reached home and greeted my mum with a, “So, where are the leftovers?”. Haha. So I had a dim sum-esque lunch Starting with…

Cornish pasties..

Savoury short-crust pastry with beef and potatoes inside. For those who can't imagine...its like a very rich karipap.

Followed by scones…

Sweet, dense, cake-like pastry...with or without currants

Cheese Tartlets…

Sweet short-crust pastry with cream cheese and blueberry jam

Trifle…

Victoria Sponge, jelly, mixed fruits, custard and fresh cream..from bottom up.

To top it all off…Tiramisu.

Haaa…that was good. I did’t eat all that tho..has to share with my sister..haha. Trip back to KL was so worth it. Haha…

Jazzing it Up! June 18, 2009

A Bowl of Oaty Goodness

On days that I have nothing to do…I sit in my room and think of recipes to try out. Today I suddenly had the strangest string of ideas involving oatmeal! A bit odd really but I had a vision about having a really nice bowl of oatmeal with different flavours. This stemmed from my several days of munching on cereal in my room. I was having honey and nut Shredded wheat for the past week or so and that kind of inspired me.

The great thing about oats is that it makes for a filling breakfast (Keeps me full till lunch believe it or not) and it also has the ability to sometimes satisfy my craving for sweet food. Its also a great way to pack in the fiber! Heart healthy is the way to go..hahaha. The recommended amount daily is about 70g which is about 10 tablespoons, to reap its cholesterol lowering benefits. These recipes only have half the amount..but who says that you can’t eat breakfast food for lunch or dinner?

Since I will be going back to KL this weekend I figured that I could go and get the stuff cheap at the bakery supply store. So here are a few ideas I have so far. I’m not a fan of raisins in my oats cause I dont really like clashes of flavours (sweet-sour etc..) when it comes to oats. So my recipes are all of one “genre” so to speak. This is what I have so far:

 Basic Oatmeal Porridge Recipe:

1/2 cup instant oatmeal or around 4-5 tablespoons( i think…hahaha. I’m bad at estimating)

2 level tablespoon of milk powder

Boiling water- amount depends on how thick you want it. I usually put enough to cover 3mm over the oatmeal

Jazzed up versions:

1. Coco-nutty: To the basic recipe, add 1 table spoon dessicated coconut, 2 tablespoons toasted almond flakes and a dash of vanilla extract..add sugar to taste. This was inspired by the taste of maccaroons.
2. Cinnamon Maple/Brown Sugar: Add a dash of cinnamon powder, and enough maple syrup or brown sugar to taste. Also using the basic recipe. This one has  a very earthy flavour..woody and nutty!
3. Butter-nut: Add enough honey to the basic recipe and mix in a small handful of roasted whole almonds. Top it off with half a teaspoon or more butter. Ooh..the smell. That buttery. fruity odor.
4. Hot Peanut Butter: Add a tablespoon or more peanut butter (use chunky for texture) and add sugar if needed. For choc lovers like me, you can add 1- 1 1/2 teaspoon good quality cocoa or chocolate powder for an added kick!
5. Chilled Choc-Chunk Oatmeal: This one doesn’t use the basic recipe and needs more prep time. Add boiling water, enough just to cover the oats…no more. When it has already kembang, put it into the fridge  to chill. When cold, add half cup or more cold fresh milk and toss in a handful of choc-chunks or choc-chips for a craving buster! For variation, use chopped Reese’s Butter Cups, Mars Bars, MnM’s, Maltesers…just get creative!

The thing about oatmeal porridge is that it has the “muak” factor so its best to enjoy it with an acidic drink like orange juice. Coffee works too…but make sure the coffees not too sweet. Can’t wait to try it out!

Random Thoughts… June 16, 2009

Can’t think of anything in particular to write about today so i’m just gonna write about random stuff. I’m supposed to enter data into our SPSS file but here I am as usual…deviating before actually getting down to work. Gotta hurry in case anor calls. I promise I’d do it. Hahah..Hmm. How irresponsible.

Today we got to meet our supervisor for one of our “speed dating” sessions. Not a real date of course..we just call it that cause we almost always get only 5 minutes to update him with our progress so far and get feedback from him. So far so good. The whole session was like Grammar class. He was correcting the language rather than the content. Which is a good thing cause that means that we’ve pretty much gotten the contents right. He also Ok-ed the dummy table so thats good. We still have to go back to the pathology department to get results for the culture and sensitivity tests done. Worse still we might have to go back to the Records Department (scream!!). Claustrophobics beware…

The Records Department...Feels like the walls are closing in on you. Haha

So after getting back from the hospital I was sposed to do data entry but ended up going online to make payments for my modem. Kinda sad that the lady can only mail it tomorrow. So I’ll get it like next week cause I don’t really know what UIA does to mails, quarantine ke apa entah, but it gets to you a couple of days late. Mendokusai. Then I watched an episode of Gokusen..and naturally went to sleep (like I needed it). So now I’m awake, you’d think I’d start with the entry but i’m blogging…great! Haha.

Anyway, electives are almost over. Hope that mummy has more cakes to make. Suddenly got a few ideas that we can try out. Maybe i’ll force her to try making cupcakes or something. Hahah..can bagi kat Mr Hafiz and all who helped with the electives with the hidden intention to promote it. Hahaha.

Definitely My Cup of Tea.. June 15, 2009

The art of making drinks is so underrated when cooking is concerned. If you notice, not all chefs make good drinks. In my lifetime, I have met many great cooks but I have met few people whom I would call good drink mixers. Honestly, the only person I could think about at the moment is Idan. Oooh..probably Tiyah’s maid too. People always praise good cooks but never acknowledge people who have a knack of achieving the right balance mixing drinks.

The only thing "green" about this green tea is the mug its in. Mug courtesy of Tiyah, background courtesy of Syaima

The inspiration for this piece was the fact that I finally had the urge to drink the green tea that I had bought quite sometime ago. The thing with tea is knowing when to stop…steeping the leaves that is. Too soon, you get brown tinged water. Too long you get the equivalent of sucking on a Panadol tablet. My past experiences always left me with that bitter after taste so this time I was determined to do it right. To brew the perfect cup that would taste wonderful plain..sugarless and all.

This is what I used to do, wait by the kettle for the water to boil and pour scalding water over the poor teabag immediately after the water boils. The ideal temperature for the water used to brew tea is 80 degrees Celcius. What 12 years of school and 6 years in college thought me was that water boils at 100 degrees. So dumping a load of boiling water on the leaves is not a very good idea. Don’t have a thermometer? Fret not..the rule is to let the water sit after boiling for 3 minutes. This would bring the temperature down to about 80. So after three minutes, pour the water into a cup(some say ceramic is best) and let steep for another 3 minutes. Personally this is too strong for me. My ideal cup steeps for around 1 minute only and I found this out after several rounds of painfully bitter cups and a couple rounds of watery concoctions. Boy was I glad when I finally got it right.

So, thats all the knowledge you need for a basic cuppa. For any addition, like milk or lemon, sugar or honey, thats totally to taste. But when adding milk, never add the tea to milk. Add the milk to the tea. Although I can’t think of anyone who would do the former. Haha..And never slurp…sip. Haha..nothing to do with manners though. Unlike coffee, you can’t really taste anything if u slurped tea. Try it if you don’t believe me…

Just Eat Cake! June 14, 2009

Hohoho..allow me to be proud of my pseudo-half achievement this weekend. Hahaha. Helped my mum decorate her fondant fruit cakes. My mom’s fruit cakes are legendary. Haha.. She learnt how to make it from her foster mum when she studied in the UK. So its the authenthic English fruit cake. Her cakes are the only ones I eat as far as fruitcakes goes. She enjoys baking and is pretty much good at baking anything from pastries to cakes to cookies.

Recently word got out to my sister’s boss that shes good at baking English treats (Scones, trifles, cornish pasties..the likes) so they decided to try her out for this English Tea they were planning. This Wednesday will be food tasting day so she baked two fruitcakes before hand as they taste better as they age. Since I was home and brimming with ideas from reading all those food blogs during my lonely days in Kuantan (hehehe), I helped co-design and decorate the cakes. Although most of the work was hers…hehe. The roses and the base were her work but the layout and cut-out shapes (a.k.a. kiddy work) were partly my ideas and doing. So this is what we got..hope the pics are clear. Bad camera quality..

The kiddy looking one..hehe. Cause of me obviously.

Heres another one…

The other cake. The lil flowers on the side...my idea!! Haha. Who am I promoting here?

While I’m at it I thought I’d put up a few of the stuff she’d done recently… This ones a 4 tiered monstrousity of a wedding cake weighing as much as a dead body and costing RM800 (or should I say an arm and a leg? Haha..get it?). Sadly the only camera at hand then was a 2 meg one so its not very clear..

It was HUUUGEE!!

If theres another cake aside from fruit cake that my mom is famous for its probably her black forrest. She makes the hugest cakes…regardless of the number of guests. This cake is probably almost twice the weight in Kgs compared to a Secret Recipe cake..shot not very nice also. Hahah..excuses..excuses…

Yummy...sweet fresh cream and sour cherries. Perfect balance..

Last..penat…apple pie. This one I think she made for my sis to give as a gift. Thats y ada bunga-bunga and stuff…

My mum's signature gebu pie crust with sweet and sour apple filling

Mmm..this is making me hungry! Haha. So if anyones interested. She takes orders. Shes a good baker and its also a plus point that shes also good at arts and crafts cause as you might have noticed she was good at making sugar craft, flowers and stuff. Besides this she also makes cupcakes with decorations, birthday cakes, malay kueh(her kueh talam are all very soft not like the firm ones u get at the pasar malam). jam tarts, English scones…pretty much anything you ask for. Haha…So kalau berminat, can call her at home 03-41067695.