Maple Syrup Scones

• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 2 heaped tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

sift all the above, then add

• 2 heaped tablespoons caster sugar
• 1cup rolled oats

then, rub in

• 320g unsalted butter until resembles breadcrumbs.

then, make a well in the middle and add

• 8 tablespoons milk mixed with
• 8 tablespoons maple syrup

and mix with a fork. it should be firm and not too sticky. if it's too sticky, add a bit more flour. if it's too dry, add a tiny bit more milk. [have to eyeball it]

turn out dough onto floured surface, pat into 3 cm thick then cut out rounds and place onto lined baking sheet. brush tops with a little beaten egg wash.

bake at 200C until golden brown [how long this takes depends on the size of ur scones, ours were mini ones so they were done in 10 minutes] this recipe made about 76 mini scones.

all these ingredients make the yummiest scones EVER!!!! they were so delicious that you don't need to eat them with jam or anything. just on their own. buttery, flavourful and just the right texture - crisp to the bite but melts in your mouth afterwards.......

Kimchi making can be quite a nice community thing to do for some people to get together, get their hands dirty and bond.
i've always loved the stuff and have been known to eat all container full of it in just 2 days. i used to buy them from the asian food shop in hobart but over here they're only available at isetan in KL or koreatown in ampang so i havent been able to gobble any of it yet!! but, look! here's a BIG batch of the lovely red stuff.


starts off with some VERY strong smelling prawn paste. [fermented]

and some.... uh...red liquid. no idea what it is.

lotsa cut up stuff . im guessing ...onions, green onions, shredded carrot, ginger, mashed up shrimp,...and a truckload of chilli flakes!!


then, stuff the mashed up mixture between the leaves of the chinese cabbage with salt in between each layer.
keep for 2 weeks before eating.

The Christmas baking bonanza has begun!!!

I started off with some fruitcake today since they have to ripen for at least a month. I used this recipe from Martha Stewart's "holiday" edition but i won't put the recipe up here until I taste them coz if they're not nice...why should i put the recipe up? anyway..... IF they taste nice, these will be given as gifts so I made them into cute little loaves, which i'll later wrap in cellophane bags and tie with pretty ribbon. I doused them with this "Cabana" rum Matthew got from Langkawi duty free.

So, we'll see in a month's time whether these taste good or not....

I'm planning to make lotsa other things to give away for Christmas, like sugar cookies, brownies, more fruitcake.... and other stuff! so stay tuned.

Do you think this avocado is edible???

now i've eaten many avocados in my day. I love those Aussie Hass ones, they're the ones I grew accustomed to eating while at Tassie and have loved them till this day. I can eat them in just about any way..... i like them straight up with salt pepper and balsamic vinegar, mashed up and spread on toast, or mashed up with onion and tomato as guacamole, or in salads, or in California rolls.

however, i wasnt prepared for this one from New Zealand. It appeared..weird. it looked....weird. it had lotsa brown spots all over...
and near its stem spot [the spot the stem used to be] there're.... weird lesions that look like they're filled with white mould. [cottony white parts....can u see????] looked like the kinda mould u'd see on bread....
i've only ever observed this happening in the NZ varieties sold in malaysia. I think itmight be because of their shipping/harvesting procedures and not so much because of its species, because these are the same "Hass" ones from Australia.
but i dont know for sure. there's no information on the internet on what this is. mum INSISTS that it's normal and it's fine and I should eat it but i KNOW for a fact that it ISNT normal because i'd never seen it in the NORMAL avocados I ussually eat. it also appears to have "sprouted" with lotsa root-like fibres going through the whole flesh. they were tough like roots. it's not supposed to be this way, is it? all the other ones i eat are just plain buttery flesh, without roots, without fungues/spots/brown bits.


see the roots coming out of the flesh in this one??? what happened???

more fibrous roots.


this picture shows the extent of the weirdness of this avocado. here u can see the brown roots/fibre, and the "holes" which look like they're filled with white fungus. i've no idea what's wrong with it so please if anyone knows, please leave a comment to tell me if this is normal!!

I made this very digestive system friendly dinner last night. carrot sticks, toasted wholemeal pita bread, kalamata olives and hummus.

At the fruit and veggie store today i found these....
dates. actually... i like sticky date pudding but i dont like eating them just like that.

here're the fresh ones! plump and juicy! who'd have thought they looked so different from the wrinkled up ones. but i guess humans are the same. u know how those bodies in the coffins never look a shadow like they did when they were alive. although the dead bodies of our loved ones look horrible... it's a tiny bit comforting to see them that way.... it makes us realize that it's not them in the casket, just their shells..... [who'd have thought i'd think about death just by looking at fresh/dried dates?]

There was a very famous but cocky pork noodle seller at the former "kui lin" coffeetiam [kopitiam, coffeeshop, toMAYto, tomato] in SS15 but in the recent months that place has been under renovation for the new subang [smtg] hotel. so, the famous pork noodle man came over to "pomander" kopitiam in SS15 [it's on the same row as casamia and herbs and food, but closer to the casamia side]

ok it's opposite the former kopitiam called "seaview"that's now called "poh poh".still donno where it is? it's next to the..... chap fan place. still donno?? it's opposite the dentist's.

his pork noodles are very much in demand and i'd never ordered from him before as every time u try to order a bowl u'd be met with a gruff "are u sure??? u have to wait 45 minutes u know!!!!" so most of the time i decided not to since he's so NOT keen on doing my business!! but today i didnt konw it was the same guy from Kui Lin so inadvertantly ordered the 45 minute long awaited pork noodles. so i waited.

and waited.

and waited.

finally it arrived and yes, it was really delicuios since it had EXTRA cholesterol filled pork fat in it [chee yau char - those deep fried crispy pieces of pork fat] and the soup was really flavourful [perhaps, extra ajinomoto??]

however i wouldnt order it again because

a) i dont like waiting 45 minutes in a noisy crowded place

b) I dont want to get a heart attack at age 25

for those pork noodle die hards however, I guess this is worth the visit, if only just once!

The boyfriend had Turkish food and here're the pictures.
below, the flatbreads and salad with lemon slices...

Sharwarma wrap [filled with.... grilled lamb, yogurt sauce and salad]

pickles

the very shy piece of lambchop is hiding under the layers of lavash.

I love the pizza from "Canadian Pizza". Every pizza is a "2 fo 1" special [where you buy one to get one free] but all that means is that each pizza is actually half the price of wat they say it is. anyway........ I recently ordered their pepperoni and "cheese" variety.

As always, it was yummy.

The cheese pizza had nothing on it but cheese. 3 kinds of cheese to be exact.. the brochure says it's a mix of cheddar, mozzarella and edam. I dont know if anyone can ever tell the 3 apart since they've meshed into a heap but it tastes great. cheesy.

close up of the pepperoni.

Laychoo and I ate at this Vietnamese restaurant at pyramid.. forgot its name but something like "O viet" or something to that effect. the summer rolls with shrimp, cooked meehoon, shredded carrot and lettuce leaves were tasty enough with a peanut dipping sauce. tasty..but not something i'd crave for in the middle of the night......... it was really just full of starch...

Her beef ball noodle soup had nice tender cuts of beef but the soup wasn't flavourful enough.


My spicy beef noodle soup was good however. the soup was indeed flavourful and spicy and the beef slices were tender and tasty. I liked the freshness from the mint leaves and raw beansprouts.

I love indian food but it always appeared to be so complicated and difficult to make. My few attempts turned out quite.... bad.
so mind boggling with 101 different ingredients just for ONE dish! for example... in my "indian food kit" i found these spices. I've no idea what they are so if anyone knows..please enlighten me? it appears to be a mix of 3 different types of...seeds? or pods?

I found this recipe for channa masala so I tried to cook it. first, I "whooshed" some onion and garlic and fresh chilli in my blender. however I may have whooshed it too much as it turned into sludge....

and cubed some potatoes..

a tin of chickpeas.

so I fried the "sludge" with some coriander seed, tumeric [kunyit], cumin powder and garam masala. it was getting burnt so i added some water. [not sure if i should have though....]

then some tomato paste..and more water.

then i simmered the potato cubes till soft.

then added the chickpeas. I may have done something wrong as the end result tasted quite... bland and slightly bitter! so I added more spices toward the end.

it didnt taste like anything yo'ud get from the shops. so sadly... i've to admit this time was a failed one.

I tried this chocolate chip banana bread recipe from Mrs Field's "crazy for chocolate" cookbook. it turned out really nice, flavourful and moist. I'd definitely make it again - it disappeared quite quickly! except that if i made it again, I'd put less sugar. somehow these American recipes are ALWAYS too sweet for my liking! anyhow, it had a very nice banana flavour since there were 8 bananas in this recipe [that makes 2 loaves] and the chocolate chip adds a nice touch. I wonder why it's called a bread though... coz it's not really bready.. but it's not a cake either. it's like..in between. it's denser than a bread..and no yeast is involved.. but not really like a cake either in texture...
I'd eat it for breakfast or as a snack. but not really for dessert like one would with a cake...then again..perhaps i might. after all it does satisfy a sweet tooth with its gooey, sticky consistency.
here's the recipe with my alternations, i reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread by mrs Fields - makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
170g butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
8 medium sized very ripe bananas, mashed
4 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C, grease 2 x 9 by 5 inch loaf pans. line with baking paper.
2. whisk flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
3. in another bowl, cream butter and sugar. add bananas and eggs, beating until well blended. beat in vanilla.
4. mix in the dry ingredients, add chocolate chips, fold in. do not overmix or they'll get tough.
5. pour into prepared pans, bake for 55 minutes or until golden brown or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. set the pans to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn out of the pans to cool completely.

Quick Homemade "pizza"


Too lazy to make a proper pizza base, I just used store bought naan bread from carrefour, and used this "pizza fondant" powder from the baking shop to make the sauce. it was so easy, just mix with hot water and you instantly get a herbed tomato paste to spread on the bases. then I added sliced onion, fetta cheese, capsicum, mushrooms and sliced tomato. and topped it with shredded cheddar and some dried basil then baked it at 200C for 10 minutes.

of course it doesnt taste like real pizza but it's quite tasty.

Pancake day

Rach and Reb came over for brekkie on merdeka day so we made pancakes. unfortunately my pancake making skills had somewhat.. diminished ever since i got back from australia. used to be able to make perfectly round golden ones but this time they mostly went black before anything else!! but, i managed to at least make these ones without burning them. so rach decided to photograph the photogenic ones.
we concluded that the batter was fine, it was just the pan that was too hot. when i turned down the heat, they stopped going black. we had them with maple syrup, butter, jam and..fetta cheese. i know it's a weird combination but it actually tasted really good with the cheese.....



Pancakes

1/2 Cup SR flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 beaten egg

oil for frying

1. sift flours, make a well in centre. mix in milk, water and eggs till smooth.
2. let stand for 15 minutes
3. heat oil in medium heat in a nonstick pan, Drop teaspoons of the batter into the pan and cook until bubbles form.
4. turn over and cook till golden.
5. serve with honey, butter, jam, maple syrup or lemon juice and sugar.

variations:
add chocolate chips, vanilla essence or banana slices into the batter for a "different" take on these traditional pancakes

To make a sandwich..............

being typically chinese malaysian..I never really had a thing for sandwiches until I went to australia. suddenly... sandwiches were the thing to have for lunch instead of hot noodles in soup or rice with meat and veg. I suppose asians like their meals hot anytime of the day [like porridge for breakfast!]. I failed miserably in my first attempt to make sandwiches, they were soggy and gross by the time we unwrapped them for lunch [never put wet lettuce and mayo next to the bread...]

so, making a good sandwich does take some planning and finesse. first, get some yummy but healthy ingredients. they MUST be balanced. that means..some protein..and some veg.
here, some rotiserrie chicken... sliced lettuce, capsicum and cucumber.

and cheese! I love colby cheese.......

get some nice bread rolls..or buns.

put the dry ingredients on the bread first so that anything wet will not soak into the bread [that'll make it soggy]

I like spicy salami but it's really really fattening!

arrange it like so: and there you go! an easy sandwich that you can take along anywhere...

the leftover ingredients can be mixed up into a big salad.


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reminiscing about tassie [that means....2 years ago!]

At salamanca market one morning we went to have morning tea and Alix ordered the fried English breakfast. full of cholesterol but isnt it soooooooooo yummy........
bacon.. [saturated fat] egg [cholesterol] on toast, grilled tomato [the only healthy thing] and black pudding [gross!]
still....there're few things as beautiful as this.

Sarawak's yummilicious delights

the thing i love most about sarawak is their laksa. a breakfast favourite, this spicy soupy dish is different from mainland laksa in that it has a strong belacan flavour and its soup is greyish from all the spices. it comes with a bit of sambal for those who want it spicier [and I always do!] and a squeeze of lime. topped off with chicken and shrimp, this really is the best thing about sarawak! I've been wanting to have it ever since my trip to Kuching and thankfully there's a lady who sells it at "nam chun" kopitiam in bangsar's lucky garden. we bought some laksa paste in kuching and tried to replicate it but somehow it didnt taste even half as good.

belacan beehoon. I'd never seen such a thing until I came here. it's some thick beehoon [rice noodles] with a sweetish black sauce and boiled squid. unusual but tasty.

not to be missed also, is the kolo mee. this stuff is addictive because of the fragrant flavourful pork fat used to coat the ramen type noodles before being topped with char siew [roast pork], minced pork, fried shallots and some sprigs of choy sum.

tri coloured tea is really popular here too, with gula melaka as the sweetener, topped with evaporated milk. the 3 layers look quite intereresting together.

while walking along the streets in the "city" we came across some crispy "woo kok" [deep fried yam dumplings filled with minced pork]
this isnt specific to sarawak but they just looked so tempting in the window display that i couldnt resist.

and siew pau [pork buns]