asamdangaram

cough! cough! BERABUK DAAA...

2006-12-01T14:11:00.000+08:00

Is that a cobweb I see? Ish, ish, ish... pemalas sungguh diriku ini.. dah genap 2 bulan tak buat entry...

* saya dengan ini mengaku bersalah kerana malas nak meng-update blog *

I must confess that I was not in the daily diary writing bandwagon.. I never keep a journal, so that must be it then.. sigh, I so want to maintain this blog.. to upload pix and stories.. stories which I could never remember later..

note to self: must remember to bring digi cam memory card next week.. boss will be away, time to upload pix... better than bergayut on phone what! cheaper summore...

RAMADHAN

2006-10-02T13:22:00.000+08:00

Dah 8 hari berpuasa... one thing about my workplace, is that Ramadhan or not, the knock off time is still 6pm.. sigh.. by the time I reach home, just enough time to wash my hands, sit at the dining table - then berbuka puasa time...

Emran and hubby have been assigned to take care of the acara berbuka puasa... anything they buy, I eat.. I cook for sahur though, coz the idea of eating 'tapau' food in the wee hour is simply intolerable!

Selamat berpuasa dan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri..

*bercuti dari blogging during Ramadhan.

MUFFINS AND PIZZAS

2006-09-06T14:39:00.000+08:00

close-up on muffins

Made muffins last nite.. 2 batches in fact, orange and mocha chocolate chip. Hubby's office is having weekly flea market, so this is 'his' contribution to the staff club..

mocha choc chips muffins & orange muffins to go

Emran picking out the veges, naughty boy!

Uncooked pizzas ready for the oven

Yum yum chicken, capsicum, mushroom & onion pizza

Emran loves pizza.. I can make pizza 24-7, I don't think he would complain. His favourite is deep dish type ala pizza hut.. Hubby and I prefer the thin crusted ones like Domino's, apakan daya demi si putera kenit tu, kena la ikut selera dia..

For the crust, I used recipe from cooking engineer.com, very easy peasy, put everthing in the bread machine.. voila! dan siap.. I know, I know, cheating katanya.. tapi tak larat le nak menguli-uli la wehhh... yang syoknya, pepagi before setting off to work, dumped everything in, set the timer... balik rumah that evening, took the dough out, divide into two portions, yadayada.. Ting! boleh makan hot piping homemade pizzas in 40 min.. yummmmm

JALAN-JALAN KAT MELAKA

2006-08-28T17:07:00.000+08:00

Emran & Daddy at Ayer Keroh Lake - mommy tak leh join coz no ruang!

Pegi Melaka for wedding of hubby's friend... lepas makan and lepak, pegi menjemput diri sendiri ke my cousin's house in bukit beruang.. Luckily he was home and di paksa menerima tetamu tak di undang for overnight stay.. Nak buat camne, I cousin lagi tua dan pangkat kakak, so nasib la ko Qadir, kena gave-up his double bed lagi for us three... kah kah kah.. tak pe, next time ko dtg sini, kakak masak best2 utk ko.. InsyaAllah

Emran at Umbai Ikan Bakar Jetty

After an hour at the lake, we decided to have ikan bakar at Umbai. We arrived shortly after 7, and the sun was setting. Crowd was sparsed, so food was quickly ordered and served. This placed is most crowded after 8pm up till late.. parking is limited so it is best to arrive earlier.. Since we were musafirs, maghrib was not a problem.

Di sebabkan kelaparan and/or dah memang dasar kuat makan, sampai terlupa nak click camera gambar seafood yang sungguh menyelerakan.. and we definitely need our fingers to korek those sumptious ketams dan udangs so how to pegang camera, kan? Hmmmm sedapnya ikan bakar, ketam masak cili, kupang berlada, udang bakar, sotong goreng tepung... and sweet refreshing air kelapa.. oh, not forgetting the delicious otak-otak melaka.. BURP! Alhamdulillah... All for rm70 jer..

note to self - since al-qadir sungguh la baik hati *read - paksa rela by the pushy older cousin* boleh la plan for the next trip to umbai soon.. accommodation udah beres!

MASAKAN KAMPUNG

2006-08-28T16:47:00.000+08:00

Last Tuesday, during my papa-inlaw visit to mak's house, mak cooked mouth-watering kampung dishes for her bisans.. Wahhhh macam-macam lauk ada.. how come, kalau I balik kampung tak pernah pulak mak nak masak cenggini? I yang kena kerah memasak ader ler.. musykil, musykil... Lepas pekena all the ulam-ulam; selum, petai, timun, ada kerabu jawa, batang keladi masak asam, sayur campur, ikan tongkol masak lemak cili api, ayam goreng bumbu, sambal belacan and kembung goreng - tergolek la papa, his wife and son kat depan tv.. tido.. sambil tu sempat gi carik kelapa muda dan benih kelapa nak bawa balik.. I know mak must be very tired after cooking all those dishes, but as usual, she was ever so gracious to her guests.. Thank you mak, I'm sure papa and his family will cherish the memory of this visit for a long time..

yang paling best, masa tengah makan, papa mentioned that - patutla menantu dia (moi!) pandai masak, sebab mengikut mak dia.. he he he.. kembang setalam by back-side.. pastu ada ke patut mak jawab 'ye ke pandai?'.. cehhh apa la mak ni, lain kali kalau orang puji anak mak, iye kan jer la.. hampeh tul.. terus kempis back-side.. kempis sikit jer kot, coz rasa-rasanya macam kembang lebih dua talam lately nih...

SELAMAT PENGANTIN BARU AZA & MARK

2006-08-24T12:26:00.000+08:00

Sedar-sedar, it has been a week since I updated this site... perghhh bizi la kononnya last week. Firstly, hubby is back! He he he rindu la jugak kan..

Saturday - My good friend Aza, got hitched to a mat saleh.. well, Mark is my next cubicle neighbour kat office ni hah.. And Aza is our MD's secretary.. The office romance has blossomed since forever, me think... let's see, Mark was transferred here end of 2000 kot.. Anyway, I am so happy for them both.. For both of them, this is a new beginning after previous failed marriages... Semoga bahagia ke anak-anak tiri, dan cucu-cicit tiri dan kandung.. HA HA HA...

Yang bestnya, masa majlis nikah, ahli keluarga Mark yang lelaki, datang pakai sedondon - gold baju melayu, sampin dan songok... cayalah.. habis la kecoh makcik-makcik jiran Aza main guessing games, which one is the groom? Khutbah and akad pun was done in English.. cool abis imam tuh speaking london u... It was good coz at least Mark's side can fully participate in the event.. Lepas nikah, rushed to hotel for the reception that nite.

Look at that... Awwww... Emran & Sam were given the honour to initiate the bride & groom march to the dais... punya la buas 2 manusia ni.. belum apa-apa dah berlari-lari round hall peluh-peluh lagi.. nak tunggu Aza & Mark pun lambat (biasa la pengantin...) these two started acting up.. so last-last myself and Sam's mom had to walk together with the group.. Lerr tak pasal-pasal kena participate mak-mak orang ni...

Sunday - hantar my mak balik kampung.. dah puas dah dok lepen my house for 2 weeks.. Must be missing her orchids!

Monday - early morning dah bergasak dengan Emran.. He refused to go to his sitter's house.. Alahai, kesian pulak rasanya.. So after arriving at work, went in MD's room, begged his mercy dan berjaya dapat half day holiday, plus Tue & Wed... Yeee hoooo.... Balik lunch time, fetched Emran, happy giler balik awal... And about 3pm, hubby arrived from KLIA.. lagilah happy budak dan mak budak sekali...

And Tue & Wed cuti-cuti ria bersama keluarga...

MUNCHING ON MUFFINS

2006-08-15T09:36:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday and Sunday was the 'convo' weekends at the uni where hubby works. His ever very the rajin colleagues made everyone in the office to participate in the jualan of the fiesta. From what I heard, ada currypuffs, dadih (somewhat like yoghurt), kuih, etc, etc...

Since hubby is away (Sri Lanka & Maldives) until next Monday, I was assigned to bake muffins for the sale... hmmm the usual muffins that I bake, are rich over the top ooey&gooey full of ingredients... For sale, I definitely cannot use my usual recipe, then.. Rugi wooohhh.. Mana boleh nak jual murah.. kalau too mahal, tak laku pulak! So, I turn to my ever trusting site allrecipes.com.. macam-macam ada!

So, apa lagi, baking time... I made orange muffins, banana muffins & chocolate chip muffins.. The best is the orange muffin.. This recipe is a definite keeper.. The other two, well, so-so I have tasted better muffins thats for sure...

After I passed about 200 pieces of muffins to hubby's colleagues, I had the pleasure of munching on delicious orange muffins for breakfast on sunday morning... Heat up in microwave for 30sec, lather with butter and raspberry jam, hot cup of coffee.. aahhhhhh...

RECIPE - ORANGE MUFFIN (from allrecipec.com)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup orange juice

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

zest of one orange

Heat oven to 400 degress F (205 degrees C). Grease bottom only muffins cups or line with baking cups.

In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, orange zest and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, combine orange juice, oil and egg; blend well. Add liquid to dry ingredients all at once, stir until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy).

Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Serve warm.

BREAD MAKING CLASS

2006-08-14T16:29:00.000+08:00

Friday - minus 1 day of annual leave, reason : pergi kelas belajar membuat roti.. hu hu hu...

What a fun day that was! Mr Hau (the teacher) taught us 15 novice to make sweet breads and a white loaf.. Hau with his very cina-apek slang, was such a sweet man, and tak kedekut ilmu.. I rasa memang dia pening kepala dengan ragam students (more like bunch of makciks and 2 pakciks) making noises in his class.. macam tak percaya jer I bawa balik those assortment of bread home..

Emran dengan tamaknya grabbbed all the buns with sausages in them.. siap kena rebut-rebut with his aunt (my younger sister) lagi... The white loaf tastes like sandwich bread from local hypermarket.. I kena try buat kat rumah la.. Masa kelas all the uli-ing and kneading is done by the canggih machines, kat rumah I only have this cheap-o cosway breadmaker...

Well worth the RM50 I paid for the whole day class!

RECIPE - TIRAMISU

2006-08-09T14:53:00.000+08:00

This is a simple tiramisu recipe.. why simple? there is no egg yolks to be cooked using a double boiler yada, yada, yada... I downloaded this recipe from this site - cookingforengineers.com. The site owner actually captured step by step preparation of his recipes.. wahhh so rajin one! I memang so lazy, especially when your kitchen counter is full of bits and pieces of your ingredients.. memang respect la kat mamat tu...

To tell the truth, after tasting this tiramisu, I prefer the taste of tiramisu with cooked egg yolks in it.. 'zabaglione' or something like that lah what it is called.. maybe next time kalau rajin, I will try it.. But for now, this is what I used to prepare this simple tiramisu...

Recipe - Simple Tiramisu
1 pound mascarpone cheese ( I used 500g coz they came in 250g containers, don't want to waste any!)
1/2 cup fine granulated sugar
1 cup whipping cream
Ladyfingers
Double shots espresso - about 60ml
1/2 cup strong coffee
2 tsp cocoa powder
1 oz bittersweet chocolate

Mix espresso and coffee. Chill

Chill whisks and bowl - put in freezer for 15 min. Whisk the cream until stiff.

Stir sugar and mascarpone in a medium bowl. Adjust taste. If using liqour, add in 3 tbs (I did not use any in mine). Fold in whipped cream to combine.

Dip ladyfingers in coffee mixture and arrange horizontally in serving dish - in a layer.

Spread half of cheese mixture - even surface with spatula or a spoon. Sift a tsp cocoa powder evenly on the surface.

Repeat.

Use a peeler to shave about 1 ounce of chocolate on the cocoa layer. Cover with cling wrap and chill. Best to be eaten after chilled for one day.

TIRAMISU FOR BREAKFAST

2006-08-09T14:46:00.000+08:00

I know, I know, such unhealthy breakfast.. Simply could not resist a teeny tiny piece before leaving for work this morning..

And I am proud to say - I had a hmm-mmm good breakfast this morning!

HA HA HA

CHOO-CHOO TRAIN FOR EMRAN

2006-08-07T12:18:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Emran!

Made this choo-choo yesterday.. Adoii sakit pinggang makcik dok tonggeng here and there to ice the train.. luckily mak is around, still it took us a few hours to finish! Not bad eh, for a first timer. Brought the cake to Emran's Q-dees (his school) along with 20 party bags filled with candy, lollipops, wafers, etc, etc.. Pity the teachers, 20 high sugar children to mind today.. ha ha ha..

RECIPE - CHOCOLATE CAKE

2006-08-03T11:52:00.000+08:00

CHOCOLATE CAKE

8 oz. (225 g) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cup (300 g) dark brown sugar
3 large (150 g) eggs
1/2 cup (115 g) sour cream
1 tsp. (5 mL) pure vanilla extract

2 oz. (55 g) dark chocolate
1/4 cup (20 g) pure cacao powder
1-1/4 cup (295 mL) water
* Break chocolate into small pieces, combine with cocoa powder in a small bowl. Boil water and pour onto chocolate mix. Whisk untill smooth. Set aside to cool.

3/4 cup (105 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (85 g) cake flour
1-1/4 tsp. (5.75 g) baking soda
1/4 tsp. (1.5 g) table salt
*Sift the above to combine.

Butter and line two 9-in. round cake pans.

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 1 egg at a time.

Add in vanilla extract and sour cream. Beat on medium speed for 10 sec.

Mix in flour and chocolate on low speed until just combined(1/3 flour, 1/2 chocolate, 1/3 flour, 1/2 chocolate, 1/3 flour)

Divide evenly into two 9-in round cake pans or three 8-in. round cake pans. Smooth batter to edges of pans.

Bake 350°F (175°C) for 25 min.

Frost with your favourite frosting. I used chocolate ganache on this particular cake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

2006-08-03T11:27:00.000+08:00

Today is Daddy's 33rd birthday... Last nite I helped mommy to make our special chocolate cake for Daddy..

Ehem... Emran was more kacau-ing than helping actually.. But he had fun creaming the butter and brown sugar.. I had to put away the electric mixer this once just for him.. I think it is a good thing to familiarise my son in the kitchen coz I really hope that he would not turn out to be the typical male - kitchen is a woman's domain nonsense!

The chocolate cake turned out perfectly, but the frosting is a wee bit runny.. maybe I did not pay attention to the cream & chocolate ratio.... Tak apa lah.. still sedap jugak... so tonite, I will order pizzas to go with the cake.. and to invite sis-in-law and hubby, plus my bro to celebrate this orang tua's birthday...

Happy birthday Sayang...

RECIPE - MARBLE CAKE

2006-08-02T11:50:00.000+08:00

This cake is a fav of hubby. Dia memang suka kek yang simple without too much deco & such.. I got the recipe from this wonderful site joyofbaking.com. Banyak juga kek yang I have tried from this site and so far no disappointment yet. Semua recipes memang best, easy to follow and homemade looking..

Marble Cake
2 ounces (55 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon brewed coffee or espresso
2 1/4 cups (290 grams) cake flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup (80 ml) milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick spray, a 10 inch (25 cm) bundt or tube pan.

In a stainless steel bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the semisweet chocolate with the coffee. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add beaten eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and sour cream.

With the mixer on low speed alternately add the flour mixture and the milk to the batter, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

After preparing the batter, pour half of the batter into a separate bowl. Stir the melted chocolate into one half of the batter, mixing well. Place the batter into the prepared pan by alternating spoons of vanilla batter and chocolate batter. Then, with the end of a wooden spoon, gently draw swirls through the batter to marbleize it. Don't over mix or you won't have that wonderful marble affect.

Bake for about one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan to cool completely.

OF MARBLED CAKE, NASI BUKHARI & DALCA

2006-08-01T15:50:00.000+08:00

Typical weekend morning at my home...

Emran : mommy, hari ni hari apa? cuti ke school?

Me : today is saturday. weekend, so cuti la..

Emran : yeeehuuu.. erm, emran rasa macam lapar la.. mommy masak la apa-apa.. mommy digivolves to cooking-mon!

Weekend usually is my cooking time.. Emran and hubby kalau boleh memang nak memerap kat rumah jer.. Watch TV, nap, makan, watch tv, nap, makan.. *repeat* Unless I start pot-pet nak pergi shopping, baru la nak bergerak...

So last weekend was one of peram kat rumah weekend.. so, what to do? Masak la.. Since ada banyak daging bought during friday nite pasar malam, the menu was Nasi Bukhari & Dalca... For dessert, marbled cake...

Masa tengah masak dalca, Emran came in the kitchen - took a deep breath - and said, hmmm sedapnya bau... cehhhh, nak ambik hati la tu.. It turned out that the nasi and dalca was too much for the 3 of us.. picked up the phone, and called sis-in-law & hubby, and bro-in-law and family.. wahhh makan besar... bro and sis of hubby both lived here in lembah kelang.. so some weekends we spend time together.. Emran kalau jumpa his cousins, macam nak pecah rumah.. but it was fun family time...

And the best part was, sunday came, we went shopping and then to bro-in-law house for lunch.. so, lunch and tea taken care of... balik rumah kenyang dan senang hati!

TRAIN CAKE

2006-07-28T10:22:00.000+08:00

I went to a cake decorating class yesterday. Wahhh discovering my keras-tangan, with that supposedly to look like a train cake.. Sooo tak creative lah me... By the end of the class habis lenguh-lenguh tangan...

On the positive note, this train impressed the heck of Emran.. So awed was he looking at it, sampai tak sabar-sabar nak makan.. Since his birthday is not till the weekend after next, I took the cake to his taska... For him and his friends to enjoy after school today...

And, dengan tak di sangka-sangka, my office mate, dah booking 1 biji for her son's birthday.. Cheewahhh, tapi I have to solek-menyolek the cake to resemble Thomas Train... Well, time to watch Thomas Train dvd for inspiration then...

FLESH AND BLOOD

2006-07-26T08:17:00.000+08:00

This is Emran.. He is going to be 5 in Aug... 5? Goodness, has it been that long since my first pregnancy? Aiyoo.. time to have another one lah.. But so far nothing yet.. Tak de rezeki lagi la tu.. Being 5, he is very imaginative, talkative, active, sometimes sentitive.. His imagination is boundless, last year he had a playmate, a sister, called 'adik nurulajijah'.. Bets me where he get the name from.. Nowadays, when asked about his 'sister', his reply - adik dah pegi jauh dok umah mummy & daddy dia, with her abang! Bless him, his 'sister' used to scare the beejeebbers outta my sis-in-law, Amy..

But now, he is planning for a new sibling.. Kesian pulak bila dia angan2 ada adik.. Beskal yang kecik ni Emran nak bagi to adik.. hmmm.. in fact I have truckloads of stuff of Emran that currently occupying the floor to ceiling wardrobe at home! Nak buang sayang, nak sedekah macam tak patut.. used goods, macam tak baik nak bagi orang kan.. in fact things like his graco travelling system pun ada nicely bungkus by hubby in store room.. If i get pregnant now, by next year, that thing will be 5 year old model.. So how? tak kan nak pakai out-dated stoller, strolling around the city.. tak kelllles la kan.. HA HA HA.. pssst.. don't tell hubby, or he will pengsan with my planning to buy a new stroller.. can hear him nag, nag, nag.. hu hu hu...

Oh-oh, lookit! Very cutey-mutey babies. LOL. Those are baby photos of yours truly and dear hubby.. I was 9 month-old then, hubby - not sure.. Gotta check the back of photo.. Orang dulu2 suka tulis tarikh dan peristiwa of each photo kat belakang. Which is me? How can! I kan pompuan, of course the one in the dress mah.. Got pics of apple & pear somemore.. Mak told me those fruits were bright red and yellow.. Obviously taken in photo studio somewhere..

Hubby pic was captured in that antique, besi walker.. Mana nak cari that kind anymore.. Now everything is made of plastic. So classic these photos. Everytime Emran sees this, he will claim it as his.. Ehhh excuse meeeee... Ingat semua gambar baby dia punya jer.. To me, Emran look mostly like his daddy.. Well, he can have my intelligence, heh! In fact he looks like miniature hubby now..

Oh eeep! I need a daughter to be my mini me.....

YUMMY DESSERT - FRUITY CARAMEL PUDDING

2006-07-23T13:57:00.000+08:00

I made this delicious dessert last night. The mixed fruit slight sourness balance out the sweetness of the pudding which is great!

Recipe - Fruity Caramel Pudding

for the caramel
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

for the pudding
2 cans evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 eggs

Steam for 30 minutes. Serve chilled with drained mixed fruits in can. Enjoy!

WELL, HELLO THERE!

2006-07-22T12:32:00.000+08:00

Will you look at that! This beautiful purply thing had sprouted from my 'garden' just outside my kitchen door.

My 'garden' if you can actually call it a garden, is this pathetic 22ft x 2 ft (width) piece of land behind my 'ciput' (small) linked house. The first time Mak saw my attempt to cultivate my piece of land, she smirked and rolled her eyes - well, SHE has 8 acres of land surrounding HER house to toil with! humph.. with semangat waja, I planted a few spices of malay herbs for my own use..

I'm sure you can see the pokok (trees) have survived my amateur green thumb. Ada pokok pandan, curry leaves, limau purut (hmm attacked by some kind of green caterpillar), bird eye chillies, lengkuas and if you squint real hard there is the big banana trunk at the end. Sadly that hunka trunk will be chopped down next week. There is also lemongrass and egg plant at the other end of this photo...

Am I proud and happy with my gardening adventure? You betcha! Next project, tomatoes, capsicums and big red chillies to add some colours to my garden...