Carrot walnut cupcakes for wedding gift.....

Not quite sure if the cream color is right .
For someone like me, it was an effort to come out with simple design of wedding gift like above. The first 2 pictures showed the actual colors and the lower picture was taken under the light of my kitchen did not reflect the cream color much. This gift is going to Sungai Siput, Perak later today.
I was supposed to deliver this yesterday evening but so engrossed listening the ICJ about the Batu Putih, i was late he he.....luckily i already had the idea in mind.....

I am just so in love..........

I thought my goo goo ga ga over a hunk phase was over million years ago but this guy just brought back the teenager side of me ha ha ha......he is so talented and the bad boy rocker image just so yummehhhhh......just click the picture to see all of his 3 songs from last night show....

A tiring mother's day......

Mother's Day went by a jiffy to me yesterday. No real celebration except for warm wishes and hugs from my heroes in the house. Started the day very early by sending a set of cupcakes ordered by next door neighbor. I send the cuppies at 8.00 am.....

I was only able to accept one mother's Day order as i had engagement request earlier. Furthermore, the engagement was family , hence the priority he he....the neighbor asked for chocolate cupcakes which was easy as the cake for the engagement was chocolate too. So just did double recipes for both and baked them in one go. The cupcakes for engagement was orange cupcakes. Apology for the blurry pictures as i was in a rush and could not take more pictures as i forgot to charge the camera battery......so forgetful of me

At 8.30 we fetched my MIL and off we were on the highway going to KL with the 2 gifts (hantaran). We reached Sentul an hour later just nice as the convoy to Bentong supposed to leave at 10.00 am. Boy...how wrong we were.
I don't know why or it is just the Malaysian thingy about cannot be on time. If they were judged by time management, they would flunked out mega time. It is either time management or most of us just do not have the sense of timing. The convoy only left for Bentong at almost noon. After this and that, here and there, my hubby and i left Bentong for home at 3.00 in the afternoon. I was sleepy all the way and hubby too, we decided to rest at Nilai R&R. Half an hour later we shot off to Seremban and reached the home sweet home almost close to 6.00. I had a nap, woke up just after 7.00, had a nice cold shower. We ate out for dinner and the boys and hubby got ready the uniforms and things for the next day. Still a bit stiff from the journey, i ended up in bed just before 11.00.....age catching up really fast i guess ha ha ha.....

A single blue rose to all mothers ........

Happy Mothers' Day






















Many of you may have noticed that I am into this sugar paste flowers making phase. If my mum was around she would be very surprised to see how engrossed i was when i played with the sugar paste dough and would be doubly amazed i could create this blue rose ha ha ha. I was a long haired tomboy when i was very young. After reading ms. hart's dedication to her late mum in a magazine last year, my mind kept playing on things which happened on the last few days of my own mum before she was called by our Creator. As i said in her blog, she and i had a similar path when come to our mums. I cannot write as good as ms. hart, but what she wrote really hit my nerve this morning when i blog hopped to hers. Thanks you mam.

And to all the mothers out there me included, i wish all of you the Happiest Mothers' Day and may you all have a blessed weekend. Cheers and God bless

Fried rice, fried fish and gum paste cut outs...

Nasi goreng Yang Zhou version zaitgha loosely adapted from the New Malaysian Cookbook. I was really running out of ideas what to cook for last night dinner though i had cooked the rice. I flipped this book and saw the recipe. I skipped some of the ingredients like carrot, peas, corn as i personally do not like them in fried rice and gotta skipped chicken as we just had chicken the day before. The fried rice was well received by my heroes and definitely with cut chili padi in light soy sauce........


Ini pulak my version of deep fried garoupa with chili sauce.



Cut outs gum paste flowers, I just love red and to get this striking red i used powder food coloring. If it was liquid food, i need a lot of liquid to get the same effect and the liquid would effect the consistencies of the gum paste dough.

Guitars, carrot cake and golden rose.....

This is my husband's little corner in our bedroom. The 3 guitars are his wives ha ha ha...so quota is full. This is where my hubby release his tension away after a long hard day in the office. I forgot to take picture of his high chair where he sits on when he plays one of the guitar.







Carrot cake with cream cheese topping seemed to be the favorite among older generation. I was told that many distant older relatives in Kuala Pilah love this cake.

After reading this and an old posting reply by my sifu, i tried my luck to make gold rose from fondant, and this is the result. I think i got the color right...what do you think?

Labor Day mishap, dinner dish and practice......

I think many of us looked forward for public holidays and Labor Day holiday was no different. The Labor Day morning for me started well enough. My hubby and I had breakfast without the kids. Then we bought roti canai for the boys and headed home. I started my routine in the kitchen and a few times was startled by my hubby showing his face at the kitchen window asking this and that when i was engrossed with things. The last request through the window was to cut off the string of his grass cutter machine( sorry if there is a better word for this). Heard the machine making noise about half and hour and saw the hubby sweeping the cut grass and fallen leaves into the garbage bag. He came into the house, had a cold drink, cleaned himself and chatting with the boys. He went out again and suddenly he called me. I could sense something was wrong and true enough he pointed at my car passenger side window....adoiiii my heart sank, i guessed it happened when a stone hit the mirror when he cut the grass earlier. Anyway, sh*t happened, we went to town to check if any workshop opened but no such luck. We got it changed on Friday.
The night before, i cooked Rendang chili api cockles with long beans. Hot but yummy stuff........
















Inspired by this newfound site and my sifu, i practice my sugarpaste and fondant rose making. These were the result of my 'keras tangan', definitely a lot more practice needed ha ha ha....

Gadgets and Boston Cheesecake on moody Tuesday morning.....

I feel very lethargic lately. And i am always in the foul mood. But i try very hard not to show the moods swing to the children. I know why i am in this quandary and i hope i will be able to pick myself up soon....on last Friday 25th April, a year had gone by since my dad passed on. Still i miss him, still i long to just call him to just pouring my heart out when i am feeling a little down. Abah, al fatihah for you and mum.
I am also feeling so lost knowing a friend is going so far away for a greener pasture who was with me when i was once at the bottomless pit of my life....

But,
when i am feeling blue, i bake....its very therapeutic and i baked cheesecake this morning. I am also showing the few gadgets that i used today. I just love red little juicer and grater that i got from Ikea. The scale which my hubby ordered online and the food processor that i bought here in Seremban a few days after i decided to be very domesticated ha ha ha. I wish i had Cuisineart but heyyy ..... just have to be thankful maaa......i just love this machine to bit, cheesecakes are just a blitz away with this and it can make a mean sambal belacan too. If i had to make sambal belacan in big portion, this the gadget i use. Of course, nothing beat the batu tumbuk but heyy...if you need to feed 10 - 15 people or more, this is the one to use to reduce the mess and the hassle of pounding away. Using blender makes the sambal very watery which is not to my liking....






















This is my version of Boston Cheesecakes recipe loosely adapted from Fantastic Cheesecake book by Alex Goh. I did not have enough cream cheese to follow his recipe to a T, i had to tweak it a bit here and there.




































The original recipe ( my changes would be in blue)
750 gm cream cheese - 500
150 gm castor sugar - 100
30 gm flour - 1 tbs
1/2 tbs vanilla - 2 tsp
zest of 1 lemon
2 tbs lemon juice - half lemon
2 eggs & 1 egg yolk - 1 egg and 1 yolk
150gm sour cream - 100 gm

200gm digestive biscuit + 2 tbs soft butter - pulsed and pressed for the cake base and keep in the freezer while mixing the rest. (I used 7 in springform i/o 8 in )
Cream the cheese, add in the rest of the ingredients in the above order, mixing each thoroughly before the next one. Pour the batter into the prepared biscuits base. Bake in water bath for 60 - 70 min ( or until set) in 150 degree preheated oven. Take out the water and let the cake cool in the oven with door slightly ajar....Cover and refrigerate for a few hours. Can enjoy it plain or with topping like blueberry or kiwi or whatever....i only have the blueberry...

Boys.....

What can i say??? Ha ha ha

Chocolate everywhere........

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate everywhere...almost everyday since last Saturday, my home smelled of sweet chocolate. Even my neighbor behind the house asked what i was cooking ha ha ha....Pity them as their living room is less than 50 meters away from my kitchen and mind you that my kitchen windows would be wide open when i did my baking or cooking. They are also my food testers though.






For a birthday girl













Order from a friend for a gift to her friend (?? he he he....)







the sweets on top of the chocolate ganache were bought in Jusco Sban 2, cute eh...Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate ganache topping for my husband niece..