Wordless Wednesday

Ohhh.....after all the hard work, only shedding calories equivalent to a slice of pudding??

Sent via Kay's Berry

Wordless Wednesday

Gloomy and dark skies are causing me to have a persistent crave for this choc bar from food section Takashimaya Singapore.

Sent via Kay's Berry

So S(e)oul Inspiring

We are home. Arrived late last night. Flight was fine (except for the atrocious English and at times lackadaisical service quality; time and time again these are my only complaints about AA), in fact we arrived earlier than schedule. These AA pilots - me thinks they all have license to speed once they are up in the skies.

And yesss....I am back at work too. Back to reality back to the grill. But I'm not complaining. The break was good and getting back into the groove makes me feel even better.

Like my previous trips, both Abe & I took loads of pictures. And when am I ever gonna put them up? Oh goshhh....I don't know. Perhaps if I posted a few at a time, I'll finish doing so some day, ya tak?

So Seoul....what's soul inspiring about this metropolis with over 10 million inhabitants?

During this short visit, I would say FOOD is top on the list. Eating establishments - there are many, many, many which can be found in Seoul;  ranging from street vendors and hole-in-the-wall shikdangs (small restaurants) to high-priced, formal restaurants will full-course meals. In between there are many types of medium-sized places offering a wide range of food types, including traditional Korean food, fast food, Western and other non-Korean dishes.

All along the streets in Seoul, this is a common sight.

Street food in abundance; but most of them serve Non Halal dishes

Here...can larrr makan.....

Mixed...western and local dishes

Pun...tok sah nak berangan nak gi indulge kat sini...:(

An old Korean house converted into a restaurant

Ice cream boleh lah....untuk lepaskan dahaga

Starbucks is everywhere....so have no fear you coffee addicts out there

Refreshment break at one of the palaces we visited

More street food...yumm yummm. Tapi apakan daya......

Coffee Fix

 No coffee can be good in the mouth that does not first send a sweet offering of odor to the nostrils ~ Henry Ward Beecher

No coffee for me yet these past few mornings. Am doing the 6 days fasting in Syawal. InshaAllah another two days to go.

Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said, “Whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six days from Shawwal it is as if they fasted the entire year.” [Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah; Ahmad transmitted it from Jabir, Muntaqa]

Cooking with Love

All these cooking and cake making without any doubt gives one some kind of a satisfaction. It feels great when the food is all finished and all the hard work of slogging in the kitchen is appreciated.

However, doing all the chores by yourself is no fun. Trust me when you have to do EVERYTHING from peeling the onions, cutting vegetables right till clearing the dishes, urggghhhhhhh PENAT!!! We do not have a maid anymore. The last one left - seperti biasa lari or in their lingo kabur; mana she went entah and I am not at all bothered to know what happened to her. This is not the first time I am faced with such a situation. Last year, I went solo in the kitchen during Ramadhan. And the situation is the same still this year. Tapi this year, umur pun dah meningkat, maka kepenatan itu pun bertambah.

Last year however, due to my new work assignment and its ridiculous hecticnes, I wasn't able to prepare much of food for our breaking of fast. There was this one kedai makan which we always frequented for our meals during the non fasting days. So obviously food for our breaking came from their kitchen. 

This year alhamdulillah, I'm quite relieved that I have more flexibility at work. Deliverables are manageable and during this fasting month we were allowed to take off early. If the roads are really, really okay (and it has been that way these past few days) I'd be pulling in to my driveway by 5pm!! Terkejut neighbours bila melihat I'm home when the sun is still bright. And what's most delighting is that I have time to cook!! 

Jadi....dapur itu sudahlah muka berasap. Simple dishes like soups, fried noodles and some lauk pauk would feast the hungry ghosts ones at home and it gives a real nice feeling when everyone is home having meals together. 

Sekarang sudah agak berkurangan ke Ramadhan Bazaar to buy food. It's not that I do not want to support these seasonal mushroom like sprouting small traders in making it big at Ramadhan. Most of the time juadah from them are rather disappointing. Not fresh, tak cukup rasa and price yang ditetapkan adalah sangat tidak berbaloi.

Early this morning at sahur, when I gulped down the dry and not-so-nice kueh kochi (bought at the Ramadhan Bazaar) my high hopes were shattered. Sebabnya? TAK SEDAP!!!

Oleh itu, akan adalah project "cuba, try, test" this weekend (kot??). Must attempt to make these sweeties – a must have for berbuka when my late grandmother was around.

Ohhh.....could just taste the sweet filling melting in my mouth. 

Kena buat jugak ni!!

Anyone remembers this batu kisar tepung? Then tepung beras kampit was no avail. To make the sweet kuehs, one would have to soak the beras pulut and later use this grinder to get that milky batter. (picture taken at a cousin's house in Air Pa'abbas, Alor gajah Melaka)

This kukur kelapa is used for shredding coconut from its interior. One needs strength to sit on this low benches. But actually, one has to learn how to use it. Tak betul cara guna, takut muscle pull akibat nya! (picture taken at National Museum Singapore)

 

Most important for kueh kochi is its sweet fillings - the inti. The coconut must be fresh and to use the best brown sugar - gula enau from Juasseh, Kuala Pilah!

Pekan Juasseh....where one finds gula enau, chendol, biskut Azan and that out of this world rojak mamak Ali Kutik.

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

If you have fetish eaters like I do, putting together dishes they would not frown and make faces at is an absolute challenge. During this fasting month, the challenge can drive you up the wall. So in order to not go any more crazy than I already am, I resorted to seeking help from Uncle Google – in more specific the food blogs.

Just imagine, at lunch break mem-browse blogs yang penuh dengan gambar-gambar food yang tak terkata yummyliciousnya. Tergugat iman? Maunya tak!! But tak de lah sampai nak berbuka pulak kann. Just enough to stimulate the mind into figuring out what to cook later.

Anyway, one day when browsing for pasta recipes guess where it brought me? Yup, I landed at some blogs which had cakes of various shapes, colors and flavours. Ohhh...dugaan sesangat!

My baking...well it's mediocre lah. Just suka-suka whenever I feel like it. Obviously my baking akan ikut mood; if jiwa kacau, I'd bake more frequent. Kalau keadaan kehidupan macam relax and selesa je, tak de nya kisah nak mengguli-uli tepung and butter tu. And because baking ni tak serious, ada masanya yang diadun tu menjadi cantik. And ada masanya ia akan terus masuk dalam dustbin. I wish one day to be able to bake macarons like the Kitchen Guardian. When that happens, I think I should jejak qaseh dengan my cikgu Homescience dulu and tell her “hey maam...look, I didn't turn out to be so bad lah”. Considering dulu she pernah kata if I failed my exams, I should just kawin je (ohhh sampai hati cikgu...saya ni bercita-cita tinggi, cikgu....and how could you not see that??) Tapi mana boleh durhaka pada guru kan? Nanti tak berkat ilmu and macam tak sincere pulak bila tiap-tiap tahun nak bagi hadiah during Teacher's Day celebration.

Anyway, back to the story of fetish eaters. I Googled pasta and it brought me to cakes. Ciss tak baik betul Uncle Google ni. So dipendekkan cerita dalam the many cake sites, I found one recipe that I thought was pretty simple and manageable. And because it was something that has something to do with Japan, lagilah it got my attention. Anything to do with Japan or Korea would definitely interests the J-pop and K-pop junkie in the house (read: NISSA lah who else!)

The cake is called Hokkaido Chiffon Cake (original recipe here). Nama glam lah kan. But seriously speaking, it's pretty easy to make. So sebenarnya bukan lah I pandai sangat nak buat. Cuma pandai follow instructions yang diberikan lah kot. Jadi friends who were so quick at complimenting my “ke-terrer-an” at baking, thanks, thanks, and thanks again. Tapi sebenarnya, you all semua pun boleh nak try out this cake ya :)

So to friends who have asked for the recipe, here goes..... Try ya jangan tak try coz these snowy, soft and spongy babes are really nice :)

Hokkaido Lemon Chiffon Cupcake

(I tweaked it by adding lemon rind to give a bit of flavour)

Ingredients

3 egg yolks, at room temperature
20g caster sugar
35g corn oil
60g full cream milk
70g cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon lemon rind (if u like a more lemony cake, u can add more)
3 egg whites, at room temperature
25g caster sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar

Cream Cheese Filling 

(recipe actually suggested something with custard and whipping cream, but I improvised)

2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons cream cheese
4 tablespoons icing sugar (use more if you like it sweet)
1 teaspoon cream
4 tablespoons plain yogurt
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1.Pre-heat oven to 180°C.

2. Remove eggs from fridge 30 minutes before you start, and separate the egg yolks and whites and place in separate bowls covering them in cling film until ready. Arrange paper liners on a muffin tray.

3. Using an electric whisk, beat the egg yolk and sugar until pale yellow in colour. Add in oil and milk, and mix well. Add lemon rind. Add the cake flour and combine.

4. In a separate bowl (make sure bowl and whisk are very clean and free of oil or else the eggs whites will not rise), use an electric whisk to beat the egg white until foamy and then add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks are formed. Gradually add the sugar, and continue to beat til stiff peaks.

5. With a spatula, gently fold 1/3 of egg white into the egg yolk batter.

6. Fold in the balance egg white until well-combined.

7. Fill the pre-arranged paper liners to about 3/4 full.

8. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Do not overbake or else texture of the cake won't be as light. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

9. Using an electric whisk, beat butter till it's fluffy.

10. Add in cream cheese, sugar, plain yogurt and cream. Whip everything until it turns light and creamy. Use a chopstick to make a hole in the middle of the cake. Pipe cream into the cooled cupcake and dust with icing sugar.


Recipe makes about 10 cupcakes if you use the squarish paper cups.
I must say they go very well with a cup of hot coffee or hot milo at iftar :-)

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Delayed Updates

Now that I am back to the USJ office, lunch is more colorful. Just next door there is a mall – one which is just about the right size for lunch time browsing and be back before the boss pops up at your place for a meeting. Since it is so close by, it is also the place where I'd bump into who's who (read: secretaries) in the company whose usual predictable way of greeting you would be, “Ehhhh....lama tak nampak!!”

I can be ultimately boring when I choose to be and with them I usually will not present any "sparks" that would trigger more conversations. So my standard reply would be, “Ohhh...I baru balik ke office sini. Was in CJ at the Mxxxx office for the last couple of months.” Jawapan biasa kepada soalan biasa. Orang tanya, kita bagi jawapan lah kann. And this means that I am pretty much under their radar. Dah tu kalau semua bende buat dok update in FB, of course lah the whole world would know kann... 

Dushhh...dushh...I can kick myself for this gatai tangan with my FB updates.

Anyway, last week I bumped into one of the girls and she commented that I ni dok lah travel sakan, gi sini and gi sana. Errr....betul lah tu. Can't dispute what she said lah kann. She said, “Hamboiiihhh sakan travel nooo....kejap Trengganu, kejap Siam, kejap China....” Ohhhh....how else should I reply her other than just  smile :) :) :) 

Ummmpppp.....entah macamana, this year macam terlebih pulak dah quota berjalan-jalan nih *wink*

And because of the extra millage that I have put in, putting these travel stories on the blog has become rather challenging – very slow pace if not none. As always during the travels, I took lots of pictures; the intention was to uploading them onto the blog with stories to share. 

But.......niat murni itu tinggal niat murni sahaja coz' I have not managed to do so for many of my travels. There's the trip to Bangkok with my BFFs in end of April (hah tu diaaaa....berkurun yang lalu!!) and followed by our trip to Beijing and Tianjin recently. And trip to Osaka and Kansai area last February pun belum habis cerita jugak. Ohhh sungguhlah banyaknya pending. 

Anyway, in this posting, I'll get started with some photos from my trip to Bangkok with BFFs Muni & Jupe. Though it was a just a short trip, it was a good one packed with makan-makan, shopping (of course) and catching up with our routine yakking :) 

Bangkok Trip: 30 April - 2 May 2012

The taxi that took us from airport to our hotel Evergreen Place Bangkok. For a while it made us feel as if we were in London!

After checking in, we headed straight to MBK - Bangkok's most legendary shopping mall. Located about 10 minutes walk from our hotel.

This is also where the BTS National Stadium station is.

With eight floors packed with 2,000 shops that sell everything from clothing, fashion accessories, handbags, leather products and luggage to furniture, mobile phones, electric appliances, cameras, stationery and DVDs, it was very difficult not to get distracted. 

Only this kept us from straying away......FOOD!!

We had lunch at a muslim restaurant called Yana. Located on level 5. 

Food was awesome!! What we ordered was just perfect for our hungry stomach.  

Next: The Grand Palace Bangkok

YouTube It

It's a few more minutes before office hours is over. Then there is the rush home to be with the family for the breaking of fast. These days, I hardly have time to cook. Much thanks to the sellers at the Ramadan Bazaar, the dishes for my berbuka do would come from those frequent stalls I visit. My selection criteria would of course be cleanliness first. Price wise....umppp, rata-rata juadah-juadah has increased between 20-30%.

"Nak buat macamana harga barang mahal kak. Minyak naik." that would be the stall owners' cry whenever I give a grim look at those tiny curry puffs sold.

Today however, I have that crave for something different. Getting pretty tired of kueh ketayap, putu kacang and friends. The mind is thinking of those very thin pancakes - crêpe, spread with a thick layer of chocolaty nutty Nutella and with banana nicely tucked in it.

Sedap nya kan... Musim-musim puasa ni semua benda pun sedap lah kan.

Let's hope I get home early enough to make this for Nissa. Just to be doubly sure I don't mess up later, this You Tube video would be my aid. Tapi rasanya tau dah how to make it (and pretty easy to lah kan....)

You Tube to save the day....always

Girls at a crêpe stall when we were in Paris that day.....yummy crêpes dia.

Notre Dame de Paris

There were already storms of people waiting in line to go up the Eiffel Tower. Both girls were not bothered about making the climb up the tower.

What fascinated us most was the street sellers making their dominant presence at selling the replicas of the tower. Abe befriended one of these young enterprising chaps and later walked away happily with a few replicas of the tower as souvenirs. (ye lah kan...orang hari-hari dok eat, sleep, study, love, tengok tower...kena lah bawak pulang bagi kat kawan-kawan)

Us girls, we went around taking pictures while he haggled for the best deal he could get for his purchase.

Once done, we hurdled back to HOHO stop.

Our next stop was a Gothic masterpiece located on the Île de la Cité, a small island in the heart of Paris.

Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe.

Seen from the exterior, the building appears to be High Gothic. Notable features include the profusion of colonnettes and tracery screens, the horizontal and vertical ordering of the facades

The Portal of Saint Anne is the portal on the west façade on the right. Its tympanum is an earlier Romanesque work, taken from the former St. Stephen's Cathedral and dating from about 1150.

In its centre, there is a magnificent Virgin with Child in the Romanesque style, with all of the elegant and serene characteristics of majestic Virgins.

A painting in the Notre Dame.

The South Rose Window was a gift from the king Saint Louis. It was designed by Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil.

It would days, just to view all the windows and learn what they are illustrating. Each window is divided into panels, which are usually read from left to right, bottom to top (earth to heaven). The number of figures or abstract shapes used is symbolic; three stands for the Church, squares and the number four symbolize the material world of the four elements, circles for eternal life.

Silence...prayers in session.

Statue of St. Joan of Arc inside Notre Dame

We followed the flow of crowd making one full round in the cathedral. Upon our exit, we saw the dark skies looming over the area. And we were hungry again by then.

Coffee and food aroma from the sidewalk cafes got us walking across the street. We found a seller on the corner selling crêpe!!

Break time.....and we had our own choice crêpe (a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour. Abe said...macam lempeng lah) with different fillings. In the end, we all agreed that the best crêpe was the one with Nutella, banana and coconut filling. Yummmmssssss......

As we strolled around the Notre Dame area, we spotted these power machines..........

And Mommy obviously had to do damage here.......

Ramadan Day Five

The weekend is finally here. What a bliss not to be rushing home from work and taking the day easy. I was at the market earlier and looks like other folks are pretty laid back too - taking their own sweet time at choosing fresh supplies for their upcoming week consumption. Unlike last Sunday, the hurried faces were more relaxed today; stopping to exchange friendly words as they picked their likes. Must be hikmah dari Ramadan and the fasting that we are observing.

So, what shall it be for iftar this evening?? I'm googling recipes for fresh ideas on what to prepare for iftar this evening. Rule of thumb is - something easy, recipe yg boleh campak-campak je bahan-bahan nya. There are only five of us at home now. Faris has not come back since the fasting started. Looks like our young man is so busy with school coz every time we call him, he's either in the chemistry lab or on the way to class. Well, "busy" is good news to both Mama & Daddy here. One evening just before iftar Abe called him and he said he was already seated at McD waiting to berbuka. Guess that's how it is now with our youngins - McD, KFC, Starbucks are so synonym with them.

My sister TM and hubby left for their Umrah last Friday. I was at KLIA for a quick send off. They must be in Madinah by now. Mom is at her place menemankan her children. From time to time, I check her lil ones' FB status to see if they are alright. Senang kan....nak tau khabar, check je kat FB...how convenient it is now as compared to the ways and means to mengeratkan silaturahim during the nonexistence broadband era.

Other updates? Well, pretty much the usual Ramadan routines; iftar, terawikh and the challenges (still) at waking up at sahur - both for yours truly (me so not morningggg personnnn!!!) and the girls.

Yesterday's iftar - tomato & mushroom prawn noodles

Till my next posting, enjoy your Sunday and have a good iftar :)

Pictures from Yan Trip

It felt good to be able to get out of the office and do some work related traveling, but it feels better to be home. This trip to Yan was slightly longer than my usual. By the third day, I was missing everyone at home, and can't wait to hit the road heading South. Maybe dah tua kot...dah malas nak gi outstation lama-lama. Maybe juga dah tak tahan dengan kerenah client yang at times, memerlukan banyak kesabaran. I don't know; there are just so many things jumbled in my head.

Anyway, here are some pictures taken during the trip. Banyak yang boleh dibuat reflections, and banyak yang bring about the question - "what if??"

Yan Kecil during evening "rush" home, hardly any queue.

This was probably the busiest that it ever got

Heading home after a hard days work?

We could have stayed here. But the resort was up on Gunung Jerai. According to our supervisor, the route up was "belok-belok macam kat Camerons". Ohh tak pe lah....

So instead, we stayed at this homestay (nothing wrong with the signage, it was me who kind of had vertigo and wasn't able to get my level straight..heh..heh)

Should you need new curtains, place your order here. Was so tempted to do so. But I wondered if they could have curtains ready in one or two days.

The best thing about Yan - food is so, so cheap!! This nasi lemak was only 50cents. No way can we get such a delight in the Klang Valley. I wasn't much of a rice in the morning person. I opted for my usual - the roti canai. Roti canai was 60cents yah and local kuehs were only 20cents and soooo sedap!! There were 7 of us, we all had roti canai, some had nasi lemak on top of the roti plus one round of local kueh. Our breakfast that morning was RM13.00. Haaaa......gulp that!! Drinks were included as well in that RM13.00. Explain this please!! Depa guna tepung yang sama, gula yg sama, susu pekat yg sama...tapi kenapa harga kita kat Klang Valley tak sama harga depa noo??

Haa...tu dia....nasi lemak tu comel saja!! Ada egg sepotong and ikan bilis plus sambal (sama je kan macam yang kat KL, tapi kenapa harga tak sama?? Jenuh dok pikiaq!!)

Jenahak Tiga Rasa...yummmyyy!!

Our dinner on the 1st night was at Tanjung Dawai, Yan. We asked the homestay owner of a good place to go for dinner. He said, "Pi makan di Tanjung Dawai." Then we asked for directions from the Tuan Haji (dia yang bagi tau suruh panggil dia - Tuan Haji). He said, "Jalan seterait (straight), ikut jalan tu sampai habih, lepas tu konar kanan, sampai la Tanjung Dawai". We mati-mati thought it was like 10 mins drive to the end of the road and turn right and we'd get to the dinner place. Rupa-rupa nyerr....huh, it was a good half hour drive. The jalan "seterait" wasn't really straight. There were sharp turns along the way. But it was dark, we couldn't see much what was the surrounding like.

Tom Yam sea food with lots of crabs. Cholesterol ?? What's that? Alien??

All in all we paid Rm150 for the six dishes we had. There were 7 of us. I told the team, "Makan je, no need to compare. Rezeki jangan di tolak."