Cendol oh cendol.....

I posted my first posting here in June 2007. This blog is almost 2 years old. However, this posting is nothing to do with the blog anniversary, just that after reading my son's latest entry here, i tried to remember what was my maiden entry about . Of course its about food, i just couldn't remember what. My dad and my mum were a very good cooks. A bit about my dad here. His was the steam white pomfret, sambal ikan bilis garing and a few others and mum with everything else. And us being young, none of us like to be in the kitchen, but dad and mum being an old school parents, made sure we started in the kitchen early.....its turned out that all my siblings are reasonably good cooks now, girls or boys....As much as we enjoyed home cooked meal , my dad and mum loved to drive around KL city and nearby states, just to eat nice satay along Peel Road, chicken rice in PJ Oldtown, ikan bakar in Serkam Malacca and etc..etc and of course the ever famous chendol and rojak mamak. I remembered going to Melawati area, along now MRR2, beside a nursery, there was a nice place to have cendol and mamak rojak in a hot day such as today. The stall was under a huge tree. I wonder wheres the mamak now.

Just now, we had cendol and rojak at one corner shop in Seremban town, and so far i feel that place has the best cendol . We were so surprised to see how packed the place was and we had to wait for a good 10 minutes for an empty table. I remember when we first discovered this place not too long ago, the mamak was staring to the wall blankly and the workers were trying hard to stay awake after serving cendol to us. Now business is thriving for him, he could only waved politely to us(if not he would come and chit chat with us )....

Searching for good cendol brought us to Sg Gadut one day. I passed that place once, but it was closed. I read and saw how crowded the place was when i blog hopped a few months ago. I asked dear hubby to go there and hoping we would have nice cendol......but how disappointed i was. Before tasting the cendol , i was already turned off when it came in with 'ketulan' air batu not shaved ice. And when i took a sip, i told myself how on earth would people queuing to eat that cendol, and hubby with his broad smile replied to me. They gave free refills maa.....in short all you can eat cendol ....ha ha ha....so that was i think the first and the last of me going for cendol there.....
The cendol and rojak i had just now.....yummmmehhh
My only order for this week, from a gentleman for his girlfriend's birthday.....

Wedding, wedding and wedding......

I finished baking wedding favors at 5.00 pm just now. The wedding is tomorrow. All 1000 pieces of the cupcakes in its individual casing. Its vanilla butter cakes.Yesterday, a fellow blogger whose kampung is in Kuala Pilah collected her orders of fondant cupcakes and cake for the brother's wedding hantaran. She wanted the most requested cake which is chocolate moist cake. When i received her email with 2 pictures of cakes attached as samples, at first i thought to decline her request. At first glance, i knew the bakers of the cakes. They are so good in their craft, i felt like a minnow whenever i made my silence visit to their websites. But, as a good friend told me rezeki jangan di tolak, bala jangan dicari, and for a challenge, i accepted the order. I just hope shes not disappointed with the outcomes.

My Mother's Day Sunday....woossshhh

My oven would start working overtime usually on Thursdays. Many people nowadays having their kenduri feast on Saturdays and Sundays would be time to cleaning up and resting before resuming work on Monday. I think thats the good thing about 5 days-week working as compared to a few years ago when it was 5 and 1/2 day. Last Thursday, i started baking cupcakes for a 'berzanji' near my mum in law's place. Halfway through, the electricity was out and my cupcakes were 'terbantat'.....resumed 3 hours later and due to the kelam kabutness, i forgot to snap pictures of the berzanji cakes. The tartlets was made on Friday morning. Then, i baked and decorated hantaran cup cakes which i called "Pink fantasy III" as it was the 3rd time i deco similar pink ribbons roses. While waiting for the hantaran cupcakes to be collected on Friday noon, i baked choc moist cake for aqiqah function, 2 birthday cakes and 20 pieces of cupcakes for birthday which both occasion were on Saturday. Send the choc moist on Friday evening, and the birthday cakes with edible images of 2 very cute brother and sister on Saturday afternoon in Senawang after attended a wedding at the MPS Hall in Seremban town.
I made simple Mother's Day cuppies and one fondant cake for hantaran in the evening. At 7.30 Sunday morning, i delivered the cupcakes, and went to Gombak KL with the hantaran cake for my hubby's cousin nikah ceremony. The ceremony was held in Bentong at noon....under the scorching sun. Because of the heat, my family and i did not really enjoy the food. We felt we were eating in the sauna he he.....We drove straight back to Seremban from Bentong, and reached home sweet home just after 4.00. Had a very long nap, almost near the maghrib time...Remembering that the kitchen ration was almost empty, we headed to Gi*nt in Senawang for groceries shopping. Back in the house just after 9.00 pm, i felt so exhausted despite the long nap earlier. Thats how my Mother's Day Sunday flew by.....i hope most of you had a better mother's day with the love ones, but hey...i am not complaining coz the kids and the father, have a way of making me feel i have a mother's day almost everyday, Day in day out......so now enjoy the pictures.....

the simple deco of choc moist cake
Pink fantasy III, its was orange butter cake
Fruit tartlets

Birthday cakes and cuppies....cute kids they are....flavors of the cakes were , choc choc chips, orange cake ( i termimpi2 abt the kids, coz byk sgt trimming the edible pictures he he.....)

Mother's Day cupcakes send to Paroi Jaya

The hantaran cake

To all mothers......

Happy Mothers' Day / Selamat Hari Ibu to all mothers........

Cakes - the stories behind them.....

I received an email asking to do a heart shaped hantaran for an engagement for a cousin. This was the third order from the same young lady. She attached a picture of what she had in mind or maybe the cousin's(?).....when i saw the picture, i told her the design was simple to follow but i prefer not to make an exact duplicate fearing of some bakers who would scream on the net when they 'think' that someone copied their masterpiece...and i did not fancy the colors combination of the cake in the picture. I believe that colors combination is important in cake decorating as it can make a simple decorated cake looks beautiful and pretty. This is my personal feeling on cake decoration, and i am not against elaborated designed cakes, purely customer choice. When i shared with her my personal preferences, the girl left the deco to me but insisted on the red swirls and also to have the names on the cake. She was happy with the cake but told me if there were tiny green leaves at the side of the red swirls, the cake would be more 'berseri'.... (told her i take a note on that)....this cake was delivered to KL last Thursday evening.
For this pink and cream fondant cake too, i received the order through the email. This was also and engagement gift. And 2 pictures were attached with the email. She said something similar but no roses flowers. When i got the flowers from the shop, i could only see the daisies and the white small flowers in the box. Apparently the roses were neatly hiding behind the sponge in the box. Not to waste, i decided to just use them and praying hard she wont be upset. I delivered this cake on Friday evening, did not get to meet her as she was not at home. When i received her sms saying, "Cake tuh cantik sangat, terima kasih Puan Zaiton' ....i was relief....2 things would always stuck to my head on this order was, she was the first customer who called me Puan and 2ndly, we never got to talk even over the phone......however my sincere thank for the order and semoga pertunangan berkekalan hingga ke jinjang pelamin. That goes to Awie and Ida too.

Pink fantasy II i called this cupcakes as this is the 2nd time i made similar design. These cuppies were send to Putrajaya on Saturday morning. They were for a birthday bash for a group of beautiful ladies whom all hit the fabulous 40 this year....The names on the cuppies are edible and so if anyone interested to have something like this, you have to give me at least 2 weeks notice( customized edible print)...

The last and not least, i made this 2 roman tier cake for my Wilton 3 course later that Saturday evening. After coming home from Putrajaya, i iced the cakes thinly with buttercream, painstakingly looked everywhere for the tools and things to bring to the class and at 1.45 pm, i was at the Amore for the course. Though i had planned of a different design of cake before, but i was so tired, i decided a simple deco would be enough. I had never done this kind of tier cake before and i was very happy with the result. Its rather simple but i managed to cover the cake very fast and yet the fondant was very smooth.
Finish the course just after 6.30, i went home so tired but i was very happy. I enjoyed every minutes i spend on each cake and hope i would be making more pretty cakes ahead.

What a Monday and a trip to Nilai and Bangi on Sunday.....

It was a hot Monday morning. Since being a full time staying home mum in August 2007, i seldom had blue Monday mornings he he....However, yesterday was not only blue, it was one of those days when everything seemed to work against me. Planning to get some baking stuff from Amore, my 2nd boy and i headed to Oakland, Seremban 2(not in the US ok...) to have breakfast. While driving, suddenly the radio went dead....oooo sh*t i said out loud...lucky the boy had the earphone on ....... then i saw the clock were very dim. I tapped the boy and said the car battery was going to die on us soon....afraid if i turned off the engine i wouldn't be able to start the car, i told him to pack the breakfast. I shifted the gear to 'parked' and waited for him. He came back after about 10 minutes, and i could not move the gear at all. Then we had the packed breakfast in the shop and walked to Amore.....The Amore owner, Nor, called the nearby workshop to change the battery and she was so kind to borrow me the RM as i am not in the habit of carrying so much RM in my purse.
While waiting, my handphone battery went dead....aiya ya.....the time was almost 12 and Nor asked me to drive her car to send my son home as he had to go to school. He is in the afternoon session. I drove her Avanza home, and after dropping off my boy, i went to the nearest ATM machine at the Gi*nt, but the machine was Out of Service, went to nearby Petronas, the machine was down too and drove further and again down......i got the RM on my 4th attempts at different machines. I drove back to Oakland and saw my car at the same spot, not send to Amore as agreed. Called the shop, i was told that it was not the battery, its the alternator, it cost a bomb and must be ordered from KL. The earliest it could be fixed was the next day....adoooiiii....Called my niece to fetch me and she came with my FIL. Both of them were not familiar with the area, i had to walk about 2km to meet them.....I was so dead tired, the dinner was at the nearest Tom Yam shop....
Compared to Monday, Sunday was nice. Woke up in the morning, had breakfast of not so nice nasi lemak with hubby. (At that time siap berangan nak buka gerai nasi lemak pulak he he). Didn't pack any food for the kids, as we planned to have early lunch in Bangi, after sending a wedding cake and cupcakes in Nilai. We left for Nilai at 10.30 and was there so early. The bride mum insisted we stayed for the makan but the caterer was not ready. We stayed on for the makan, but felt so out of place as we were not 'properly' dressed for the occasion. After the pengantin came and sat on the dais, we left for Bangi. I went to a bakery shop there, but the boys and the father decided to buy a little rabbit. My eldest son's account of the trip is here. Then we lepakked in San Francisco Pizza and ate, Brushetta with mushroom and white sauce and nachos....yummehhh....
The wabbit...........
The empty plates and glasses and basket......
The cake and the cupcakes ( apology as the pics were so blur....nice rossettes from nozzle wilton recommended by ChiQueCakes)
The beautiful dais
The handsome couple.....

Fruit tartlets to KL and good news??......

These fruits tartlets was ordered by a pretty girl who requested a basketweave fondant cake from me for her engagement, the cake is here. As usual, i would make the best out of the trip, beside fetching dear hubby from the office, i did a tour to USJ for some business deal. So, now cupcakes bakers in Seremban can have nice and secure boxes for the little cakes. Edible image for children cakes also available. Feel free to browse here , for details.

I have also agreed with the owner of Amore-eBake to teach a few things there. Hopefully, in June and the first one would be a few types of tartlets. So, anyone interested please shoot me an email or contact Amore directly. Hope to see one or two of you there soon....

Baked Cheese and macaroni recipe and future projects.....

Since last Saturday, i am in the 'making flowers mode'. It for future projects and the flowers need to be nicely dried....some of the flowers are so tini-tiny, I wonder where does my patience come from as i used to have a bad temper before. Now, this kind of thing is therapeutic to me. I have yet to yell at the boys since...amazing ya...wait for my completed project in a coming week......A few requests i received for my baked macaroni and cheese from my last entry. So here goes the recipe....please note that this is not an exact science , therefore the ingredients can be tailored to your own taste bud....this recipe is just for your guide....Remember 'Chef At Home' words ' Best recipe is no recipe ' .....


I used,

300 gms macaroni- boiled aldente
300 gms mince beef - (Ramly)
5 cloves of garlic - chopped
1 yellow big onion - chopped
1 can La Doria - water
1 small can tomato paste ( a few brand available at Giant) - water
1 tbs dried oregano ( you can get this cheaper in bakery shop)
1 tbs coarse blackpepper
1 small carrot - diced
1/4 small head of cauliflower - diced
1 bell pepper - diced
1/2 of small head of brocolli - diced
1 can of button mushroom - sliced
4 tbs olive oil
salt to taste
100gms shredded cheddar cheese
200gms shredded mozzarella


Pour the oil in the lightly preheated pot, put in chopped onion and garlic(olive oil is easily burn, so you do not need to heat it up). Stir until fragrance, abt 2- 3 minutes. Add in the minced beef, stir for a few minutes then pour in the tomato and tomato paste, fill up the 2 cans with water and add the water in, mash the tomato with potato masher or mash it with fork before putting the tomato in the pot. Let it simmer for a few minutes, put all the vegetables in...let it simmer until it become a thick sauce and add in the macaroni, stir well and add in the oregano, black pepper and coarse salt to taste. Stir and off the fire. Let it cool for abt 10 minutes, then spread the macaroni mixture in a casserole dish evenly, mine was 9x12in. Top the mixture with the cheeses, and bake in a preheated oven of 200C for 15 - 20 or until the cheese melted and brown a bit and look so gorgeous you cant stand to just stare at them in the oven.....buttttt plssssss be careful the glass dish will be so hot and so are the cheeses.......Enjoy but dont burnt your tounge...


p/s

Without the pasta, beef and the vege, this sauce is also yummy for the pizza....

Birthday lunch at home and a birthday cake to Fahmi in Sban 2....

As cakes are common sight in my kitchen, before i bake one for anyone birthday in the house, i have no choice but to ask what cake they prefer to eat. As for my 2nd boy's birthday which we had pizza to celebrate the occasion, the father said no cakes too for his. But when asked what to have for lunch, he said whatever....haisssshhh.....
We are not the type who goes all out for birthdays, but as the only gal in the house, i like to have something different to mark the special day. I decided a baked macaroni and cheese should be a nice change for lunch on Sunday. 12th April was my hubby birth date. Mind you, it was 12 x 9in casserole dish that i used, but the entire thing gone in a jiffy. I also made garlic bread to go with this but i forgot to take the picture.

On Monday, I delivered this simple Choc Butter Cake with chocolate ganache topping and the Sponge Bob edible image to Seremban 2 for an 8 year old boy's birthday. The chocolate ganache was so beautiful, my heart ached when i pasted the image on top. Now i know how to get the ganache shiny or matte.

RayBan sunglasses and simple decorated cakes .....

I was a bit surprised when my sister told me she had started blogging. I know she reads Tun M, Rocky, mine and most blogs on my blogroll, but i never thought she would start a blog of her own. I read her maiden posting about RayBan sunglasses, they are my favorite. Being a faithful wearer of that brand since started using sun glasses. See her takes here

Me and my Ray Ban...taken this picture quite a long time ago....i was stuck in the bad jam going home from office on one of those working Saturdays ....got bored and self snapped the picture...



The cakes above were chocolate moist and Vanilla Buttercake, simple deco requested by someone who ate a wedding cake i made because she loves the butter icing. I hope she likes the cakes too .....
This mix flavor set was for someone at Time Building along Jalan Tun Razak, she requested for cupcakes awhile ago but gotta canceled as the supposedly working trip to Nilai was postponed.

This set was ordered by a wedding planner in Wangsa Maju, KL. She told me she heard good feedbacks on my cakes and wanted some to taste.

The box for the cupcakes.