Dinner dishes and dessert.......

This is my oldest boy. Born almost 15 years ago and he is also my good friend. I love taking him out for teh tarik session where we both talk about everything under the sky. He would love to follow Chef Wan's success and he has my blessing unconditionally. This year is a crucial year for him as he would be sitting for his 2nd major exams which is PMR. He is an easy child from inside me until now so far and I thank and pray to God that he continues to be that way to show a good example to his younger siblings. For whatever reasons, he asked me about a few dishes that i cooked a long time ago for a few get together when i was working. I was amazed that he could remember as a few of the occasions were held when he was not even 10 years old yet. One of the dishes was salmon fish head assam pedas .....He told me how he loved that dish and requested if i could teach him to cook that. We went to J*s#o in Seremban 2 but no salmon heads selling. We made do with the 2 sliced of the salmon meat then.

No different than how i cooked other fish assam pedas. I used shallots, garlic, ginger, fresh tumeric, shrimp paste, ginger bud, daun kesum, air asam and blended dry chili. So that was for dinner tonite and a little bit of fried tumeric chicken.
I also churned a batch of homemade strawberry ice cream as i found a reasonably price strawberry. Very simple, pureed the strawberry, then added in 200ml whip cream, 75gm castor sugar and a bit of lemon juice. Blend all and pour into the ice cream maker. The machine makes wonderful ice cream after 15 minutes.

Orange cupcakes with chocolate ganache..........

On Monday, when i was at MIL's place, i met my husband's niece who is on a study break for a week. She told me that she wanted to eat a nice simple cake. So i told her i would bake her something but at that time i was not sure what to bake. She also told me that she would have to go back to Kedah this Friday. Thinking that Friday was so faraway, i almost forgot about my promise to her. So this morning emails was back and forth between my Sifu and I as i planned to bake chocolate cake. But not quite sure what the size of cake pan to use, i changed my mind to try to bake orange cupcakes. I decided to pair the topping with chocolate ganache. Chocolate and orange, remind me of Zip chocolate orange. And i need to practice to draw line using the butter icing. The cupcakes came out really beautiful and delicious and when iced it with chocolate ganache it is really fantastic.........

the orange cupcake without a dress as yet
After being dressed up simply
nicely in a box ready to be delivered
Gulai pegaga

Finally....it died on me

After almost 15 years, this faithful washing machine of mine finally gave out its last breath. See how faded the writing on it and some even totally gone. I remember we bought this machine just after we got married. We got it at the shop in one of the shop along Jalan Sentul. It never gave us problem until this morning. I last used this machine yesterday and this morning as i was starting to do the laundry the water just wont hold in the machine. When i told other half that the machine needs repaired, he just told me to let it R.I.P.....he he.....


I cooked this a few days ago for lunch. Shrimps masak lemak cili api with pineapples and long beans.

Basically i just add all these in a pot:- 500gms shrimps, 200ml thick coconut milk, 100ml water, half pineapple cut as you liked, cili api+fresh tumeric about 1/2 inch pounded, tumeric leave roughly shredded....i used coarse salt to taste....make sure this mixture is stirred a few times while on the fire, if not the coconut milk would curdled. Let it boil for a couple of minutes and throw in some cut long bean....off the fire and enjoy this with hot white rice....if you have left over the next day, eat it with some lightly toasted bread hmmmm....nice

Heavenly chocolatey.....hmmmmmm

My Monday this week started well enough with me having breakfast of rawa tose in Senawang with a dear friend whom i had not seen for about a month. We usually meet twice or three times a week just to keep our mind sane as both of us are not in the group of working women anymore. When i fetched her at her home i felt my heart was so heavy and as we shook hands and hugged each other i was just overwhelmed with emotion, i could not hold my tears. I did not realise i missed her that much. She sort of being my confidante since i decided to be a domestic engineer. My 2nd boy always said that he pity me as I only have one friend here in Seremban ha ha ha. We yakked while savoring the tose and of course i did most of the talking.
i am using this picture of hers as i did not get her
blessing to put up her picture here he he......
Then i dropped her off and went home as the guys from the kitchen cabinet shop were on the way to fix the table top for my kitchen cabinet. They were quite efficient, they finished just in time for me to go and fetch my 2 younger boys from school. As i did not cook for lunch the boys wanted roti chanai. We went to the mamak shop in Seremban town. Finished eating, we got into the car but the car would not start. No sound at all not even a click when i turn the key to start the engine.....ooo shoot....one thing led to another, i gotta changed the car battery. I got my friend to send my boys home first....waited for the guy to change the battery and i was drenched when i got into my car to go home after paying him. Got home my youngest son said his room was flooded from the leaking roof. Mopped the floor dry and the back was aching....by that time i was just too tired to do anything else. I left everything after that to dear hubby he he.... and went to sleep.

Tuesday, to de-stress and forget what had happened on Monday i decided to bake chocolate cupcakes. Its turned out so lovely and yummy, i was so pleased with myself. So no more stress since then he he.....

After coming out from the oven

Simple decorations

Dinner dishes...

My version of sweet sour parang fish and fry mix vegetables. I used sour plum instead of tomato sauce in my sweet sour and of course it has to be a bit hot to my children liking, so i added in about 2 tablespoons blended dry chillies.

The old and the new....

These are the old dinner sets which i collected a few years ago. I don't know why at one point of my life, i started to collect old dinnerwares like in the pictures. I remembered when i was young, these were the dinnerware we used daily. I did barter trade with a few aunts and my mother in law. They gave me complete set for 4 and i gave them new set of supposedly latest design dinnerware...fair right? One time i used this wares to serve when a group of friends came over for lunch. They got excited and we shared many stories which relate to the dinnerwares...

My sisters from KL came to Seremban on Maal Hijrah Public Holiday. As the older one has same passion with me especially in baking, we spend most of our time in my kitchen. The lappy was on my kitchen table as i shared with her my blog and the many sites i visited almost daily when i on the internet. Never had thought that one day i would be browsing the net in the comfort of my kitchen ha ha ha......

Missing girl alert......N.U.R.I.N ALERT!!

HELP TO FIND HER



NAME: SHARLINIE MOHD NASHAR / SHE ANSWERS TO THE NAME "NINI"
AGE: 5
HEIGHT: 3 FT 2 INCHES
DESCRIPTION: SLIGHT BUILD, ROUND FACE, TANNED COMPLEXION
LAST SEEN WEARING STRIPED LIGHT BLUE-WHITE SLEEVELESS TOP, LIGHT BLUE SHORT SKIRT AND PINK SLIPPERS, AROUND 11AM AT PLAYGROUND NEAR HER HOUSE IN TAMAN DATO HARUN, PJS AREA.

IF YOU SEE A CHILD FITTING THIS DESCRIPTION (PARTICULARLY IN VERY SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES) PLEASE CALL RAKANCOP AT 03-21159999, SURAYA (016-2709096) OR MOHD NASHAR (016-2583450)

Please also go here for more details......

My heart just goes out to the parents and siblings when thing like this happened. I think we might have to use leash like some westerners do to ensure their kids do not go far. I used to think that only suitable for animal but at the rate crime of this nature happens almost everyday, maybe that is the best thing to ensure our kids are safe. Soon the playground around the housing area are not necessary anymore......sheeessshh

Mini vanilla cupcakes with cute little swirl of buttericing...

Now the baking bugs hit me again . I was away from home the whole of last Saturday. My previous posting will give you the reason. I only reached home that night around 8 .45 in the evening. I could come in a bit early but gotten adventurous on the way out from Sg Buloh to Kuala Lumpur ha ha ha....we actually got lost going back to Ampang Park where i was supposed to drop off 2 friends . When I got home, feeling thirsty i went to the kitchen for a drink, opened the fridge and saw one plate of fried bihun. I thought dear hubby was 'rajin ' enough but was told that the next door neighbor send the bihun. Hmmmm.....now gotta think what to fill the plate when i return it.
Then on Sunday afternoon as i was watching some old rerun show , i heard a voice calling for my 2nd boy. The next door neighbor 's son with a covered bowl in his hands, again.....?? There was a nice looking Masak Lodeh staring at me when i took off the lid of the bowl. Gotta return the bowl too now....so browsing the net and discovered this. Decided to practice my swirl and some baking tips which i learned on Saturday . I also made the cupcakes small for easier consumption ......and best of all i could return my neigbor's plate un-empty ha ha ha ( is there such a word??).....
just came out from the oven....
looks lovely ya.....


With pretty in pink swirl of butter icing.......

Cupcakes decorating.........

I am not quite sure whose were these cupcakes decoration belong to.

There were 7 of us learning the thrills and tricks of cupcakes decoration on last Saturday the 5th. Lynn, kind enough to share her expertise with us. We had fun playing with gumpaste, fondant and piping jelly. Check out her photopages to see how amazingly creative she is. And for yours truly, this was the first time i handled these thing. One thing i can say is, it is not easy. It needs patience and love to come out with beutiful results. And Lynn is sure one patience sifu he he.......thanks ya.

These are yours truly ha ha ha dont laugh(Susah tangan tak berseni nih)

Dinner and desserts last Friday.....

We were kinda tired of eating rice for dinner, the kids requested my version of char kuey teow. I used shrimps, bean sprout, chives, blended dry chilies, garlic finely chopped, fish sauce, dark and light soy sauce, oyster sauce, eggs, oil for frying. I fried the chopped garlic, added in the shrimps, then the blended chillies. Then I threw in 1 packet of the kuey teow, added in a few dashes of fish sauce, 1 tbs dark soy sauce, 2 tbs light soy sauce, 2 tbs oyster sauce. With high fire on, break 1 egg and stir thoroughly. Off the fire and throw in the bean sprouts and chives, stir again put the ready to eat kuey teow on the nice place and enjoy....
Baked banana chocolate chip muffins for desserts and recipe used from Chef Wan's Sweet Desserts.