im always on the lookout for ice cream so i found this new place in alamanda, putrajaya. it's DQ which i think stands for dairy queen [so it must be a spawn of the old dairy queen ice cream chain]

here's its regular vanilla cone at RM 1.15

it was only so so. the ice cream had a nice texture but tasted bland. and the cone was horrible! it tasted dry and chewy [like it had "low foong" alreadyyyyyy]

i think..... i'd prefer mcdonald's vanilla cones to this.
they have other things too that might make this place a good place to hangout since it's relatively reasonably priced. warning: blurry pics ahead

here's a poster for their blizzards which look very much like mcflurries with oreo/smarties bits in it. [i think my mcmind's been macdonalized!]

somehow i get the feeling that it's very american. here's the poster for their RM6.90 "moo" lattes. perhaps i'll try them the next time around. they have other interesting things like hotdogs, nachos and "branded" juices. dont ask me why it's branded!! but each "juice" has a name. "julius" is one of em!

this week being a super food fest since the boyfriend is home for a holiday..thought i'd blog a bit about the great food we've been having.

today we had really yummilicuios sarawak laksa at nam chuan in lucky garden, bangsar. no picture though...coz i was too busy stuffing my face to bother about snapping a pic.

but here're some from sushi king last night:

the sashimi was okay but not the freshest it could've been.

fried octopus with mayo. it was only so so. crispy..but flavour wasnt anything special. tasted merely of flour and pepper. [it wasnt japanesey in flavour]
the tofu was a disappointment...deep fried pieces of tofu... that would've had crispy skin except that it was drowning in a weird brownish oily liquid.

next up: IKEA's cafeteria. i've always loved eating here and the "daim" cake is the BEST!! i had fish n chips [simple but yummy]

the boyfriend had to have his meatballs and opted for chips instead of the usual boiled potatoes. he agreed with me that berry jam+beefballs= wrong

we had drinks at happy cafe in happy garden afterwards...[cheap beer] i had a [non-alcoholic] blueberry smoothie [would've been really yummy except for some weird red hard seeds in it..i dont think they're blueberry seeds though!]

On to subang jaya. the coffee at "old town white coffee" cafe in ss15 was.......REALLY REALLY SUPER KAO!! [thick] some people like it that way but it was too "powerful" for me. i couldnt finish it. and it...is perhaps the reason im still awake at 1.12am right now!! [sheesh] however the boyfriend seemed to enjoy it. by the way, this was the place where i was conned into paying RM4.70 for a pathetic bowl of maggi mee with one sprig of bokchoy an half a slice of processed offcuts ham. but, it has nice ambiance and with free wi-fi i suppose the place has its fans.

at some nasi kandar masakan melayu place in sunway [dont rmbr the name] they had really good ikan pari curry [that rhymes!] and chilli fried okra.

i had the nasi patayya [that wasnt very impressive]

but this chicken soup [sup ayam] was good. it was fragrant and slightly spicy and sourish and had nice pieces of chicken/celery/onions in it.

ok that's allfor food fest. more tomorrow. i need to go to the gym.

Chocolate Cake

Our neighbour wanted a plain chocolate cake with no frosting [less calories that way I suppose!] so mum decided to decorate it with some red candy hearts instead. it looks quite pretty i think.

Plain Chocolate cake
Price: RM30


we had dinner at dusit thai last night, in pyramid. the ambience is pretty good, with table or floor seating [quite cool, when you sit on the "floor" there's actually a hole in which you can put your legs into, and cushions to sit on and you get to eat off a low table]
I got too busy eating to take anymore pictures so here're just two of the dishes:
a squid salad [it was so hot that i gagged and chocked after eating a bite that must've included some cili padi slices and i could feel my whole face/throat burning up and my esophagus got sent into spasms] but i suppose it IS yummy if u like things spicy.

and chicken tomyam soup.

Butter Buns

The prospect of making bread seemed daunting at first for most! but it's rather rewarding. Mum likes to make her own pizza dough and during the 90's there was a wave of "bread machines" that took malaysia by storm. soon after a lot of children had to endure "high fibre" breads that tasted like....uh... shredded wood.

anyway.... here're some butter buns, they're soft, fragrant and tasty little things.. with a nice..sweetish but savory flavour.
I think they'd be good for children's snacks, or for tea...or for light snacks after some home cell meeting...

Price: RM 8 for 2 trays of mini buns.

please give at least 4 day's notice

japanese cheesecake

Rachel inspired me to try out a recipe for japanese fluffy cheesecake the other day. I dont know how close this one is to the one she was describing, but well, i thought it was worth a try.

First i mashed up some cream cheese with milk using a fork like this

then add some egg yolks, sugar, cream of tartar..cornflour..and lemon juice

and whisk up some egg whites and sugar till it gets all airy and fluffy like this [i love whisking egg whites with a hand beater..coz u dont have to expend that much energy but you get to see how some clear gooey mess turn into heavenly fluffy creamy looking meringue!]

fold the egg white mixture in like this,very gently so that you dont burst the air bubbles.


and bake in a bain marie for 40 minutes!

here's the finished product..with some blackberry jam glaze on top.


it was really soft, creamy and fluffy...and had a nice lemony flavour. the sweet blackberry topping gave it just enough sweetness to counteract the tangy lemony cake.
terk, chihui, jeniffer, joanna and simeon almost finished the whole cake so i guess it was okay-tasting. i used the leftover cream cheese to make a cheesy chicken sandwich with some roast chicken, tomato, spinach leaves and black pepper.

Price: RM30

Size: 7-inch round [small]

We had dinner at Bella Italia in ss12 tonight [same row as dominos, Taj Curry house and SJMC] Opposite sheraton hotel. it's a really nice little place run by an italian family [i think they're italian coz they look mediterranean and speak with that accent]
you cant miss it as the huge awning is in the italian flag colours - red white and green.

I had my usual pasta carbonara. it was okay..but not as good as the one i make while at tassie coz.. we all know you cant have an authentic carbonara without real bacon!! this was made with beef bacon. oh well. for RM12.90 you cant complain...] sorry for the blurry photo. havent mastered the art of taking photos without adequate lighting.

the Bruschetta was pretty good though.

dad ordered this pasta but no idea what it is.

lamb shank

tiramisu! again, it wasnt that great because it doesn't have any liquour in it! in fact it just tasted like any other commercially made sponge cake with too much fat.

I decided to try making a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting because FanYin suggested it and I'd never done one before. Lotsa people have been asking for it too!! besides...it's healthy right? since it contains beta carotene for your eyes. i'd like to think it's healthy bcoz of the 3 grated carrot in it..but uh....i think the fat from the cream cheese/butter/sugar cancels out any health benefits.
the cinnamon in it makes it a dark brown colour.

Everyone at cellgroup said the cake was nice so i guess it must've been. I managed to save a slice for mum. It was really moist with visible bits of carrot and walnuts.

Price: RM40

Size: 8-inch round

Mum made some gingerbread angels. arent they sweet??? nice skirts. ehhe. they're for my aunt's sunday school class. she used fresh ginger so they really tasted nice and gingerish!!

Price: RM22 for 10 gingerbread angels