On my way home

Beef Soup for the sick ol' soul...

My better half wasnt feeling too good one day so I cooked him this...simple dish to prepare but I love it...For added 'kick', I stir in some sambal belachan....ooooohhhhhh.....

Simple Cookies

Once upon a time, a colleague of mine shared a baking book with me. This cookie recipe I found in the book is very simple and basic that I was baking cookies after work and yes....its that easy so I'll share them with you...anyway, it beats having fresh baked cookies anytime you want in which ever way you like it...plain, with chocolate chips....with slivered almonds....dipped in chocolate....with the baking smell wafting through the kitchen! YUM!

Here we go!

175g / 1.5cup plain (all-purpose) flour

1tsp baking powder

125g / half cup soft margarine

90g / half cup light muscovado sugar (available in most supermakets, a friend will get it for me whenever he goes back home to phillipines as its much cheaper there)

60g / a quarter cup of caster sugar (I omit this totally sometimes as I do not want my cookies too sweet, if unsure, just use half of this for starter)

half tsp vanilla flavouring (extract)

1 egg

125g of dark chocolate chips (if using)

okie dokie...here we go!

1) Lightly grease baking trays

2) Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat to combine (I just use my hands to mix)

3) Place tablespoonfuls of the mixture on the baking trays, spacing them well apart to allow for spreading during cooking

4) Bake in preheated oven 190deg for 10-12mins or until the cookies are golden brown

5) Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely...

For variations such as ~

~ Mixed chocolate cookies ~ use a mixture of dark, milk and white choclate chips in the basic mixture

~ Chocolate chips and coconut cookies ~ add 25g of dessicated (shredded) coconut to the basic mixture

~ Choc and nut cookies ~ add 40g of chopped nuts (hazelnuts, almonds etc) to the mixture

~ Double Choc ~ beat in 40g melted dark chocolate

~ White Chocolate chip cookies ~ use white chocolate chips instead of the the dark ones

~ Chocolate chip and raisin cookies ~ add 40g / 5 tbsp of raisins to the mixture


Seriously....its all up to your imagination rite so happy baking! :o)

SunSets

I like sunsets...I didnt know that I like to take pictures of it wherever I go until I was gg through my pictures gallery...I love it as its one of those breathtaking moments you get to enjoy everyday, like a friend has once said before, " Like you, I should pay more attention to these things, the simple pleasures in life...I rarely notice them as I just didnt think of taking the time to..."

Away Too Long!

Seriously I was...I was gg through my pictures gallery when I realised I had so many pictures to share with you...part of my heightened inclination nowadays is the fault of a brand new camera...I soooo love it so I became snappy happy! hahaha....

So. To follow suit soon...a pictoral diaorrhea of food adventures! hahahaha

Food Enjoyed In KL

When we go KL, we go crazy with the selection of food! All this we had (and more!) were delicious!

1) fermented glutinous rice aka tapai with vanilla ice cream! such an amazing combination.

2) seafood hor fun, best eaten hot!

3) our spread

4) fried beef kway teow

5) sambal prawns with petai (not for the faint hearted! LOL)

Back in BKK

I went back to bangkok and enjoyed all the good stuffs again...

The coconut ice cream at chatuchak weekend market is heavenly...

The bakery I discovered on the first day I was there, looking for a place to have a breakfast...helps too that a fantastic massage place is just next to it...at 250bht for an hour, i got lost in time as the masseuse knead my heavily trodded feet that I walked continuosly without rest...

sighhhhh....

I do miss bangkok...

Happiness on a stick...

eh? wat were u thinking? hehehe...

The Delicious Riot of Colours !

I saw this AMAZING display of frozen yoghurt in BKK...I was full to the brim but from a distance, I was drawn to the colours as if I was in trance...Then, I stood for a good 5mins just looking at the beautiful colours of frozen yoghurt on display...I was practically in total awe! hahaha!

The japs knew way before that proper branding, packaging and product display is soooooo important...So to those who said these 3 things above aren't important, please buck up and open up k...but back to the photos....

Oh my...just looking at the photos make me dream of the colours and the wonderful taste again...sighhhhh....

Just look at those berries!

Nasi Goreng Pedas

This recipe was taken somewhere for Mi Siam goreng.... I've tweaked the recipe abit to suit my taste and I've used them to fry with rice, lontong or macaroni and they are all delicious so its a good recipe to keep....

ok now, lets share the love for spicy fried rice aka nasi goreng pedas!

here goes...

1.5 cups of uncook rice (wash and cook)

10pcs of dried chillies (rinsed and soaked in hot water till its very soft)

1 medium size onion

4 garlic

8 cili padi (i usuali use 10 for max spiciness!)

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1.5 tbsp light soya sauce

a handful of dried prawns (soaked in hot water)

200g of uncooked minced beef

1 cup of frozen corns carrots and peas (I use the watties brand, they're snap frozen so the freshness is retained)

5 small eggs, scrambled and prepared beforehand

ok...lets get started (be sure to prepare everything first before you do k...)

1) Pound or grind together the soaked dried chillies, cili padi, dried prawns, medium onion and garlic.

2) Heat up ard 3tbsp of cooking oil and fry all the pounded ingredients... (be careful when u pour it in ya)

3) After ard 10 mins, I add in the oyster sauce and the light soya sauce and fry for another 5 mins and then add in the minced beef and cook until the oil separates from the chilli paste and the minced beef is cooked (for me, that'll be around another say 15mins under medium flames)

4) Add in the frozen corn carrots and peas and fry for another 5 mins...

5) Finally, add in the rice and the scrambled eggs and stir thoroughly so that the paste coats the rice well...(Its ok to increase the flame a little now)

Fry chicken wings and fish keropok to serve on the sides and this is able to feed 4 hungry peeps :o)

Simple Fried Chicken recipe ~

1kg chicken pieces

1.5 tsp ground turmeric

1.5 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp sugar

1) Place the chicken in a mixing bowl and add in the salt, sugar, turmeric and ground black pepper, mixing to distribute evenly. Marinate for 20 mins. (I just fry straightaway sometimes and its ok)

2) Heat enough oil in the wok and add the chicken pieces and cook over high heat to seal in the juices and to brown slightly. Reduce the heat to medium and fry till chicken is cooked.

There you go, sunday morning brunch for you...serve with good hot hot coffee and eaten with good company, even simple food can be so delicious right :o)

Fried Rice Paradise

THIS, is one of my favourite things. And when I go get it, I make sure only that certain lady is the one who's going to fry this (she doesnt own the stall but helps to man it)...If its not her cooking on that day, I'll just go elsewhere....hahaha! That's how good this lady makes it...

This stall is the one that sells chicken rice at the original makan place (not the new extensions) at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station...well I do not know the name of the lady but she only cooks in the day, night time its usuali somebody else...not that the others are very bad but its just mediocre to my standards! haha!

Delicious weekend dine out brunches

We went for indian and swedish fare this weekend...Dined out because for the life of me I do not know why is that I'm so tired...I took a nap on sat after the bhattura meal and then woke up late on sunday...Just totally not me at all...But husband's been wheezing and coughing every night for the past week so that might be why my body just wants rest this weekend...

well...

We had wonderful brunches dis weekend...Lovely! The bhattura was enjoyed from this old vegetarian komala villas restaurant just behind the tekka market and the swedish fare at Fika...

me...I had meatballs with potatos at fika...the pic above is my husband's favourite which is equally good too...:o)

Chocolate and vanilla marble cake

Such a simple cake to make but its soooo good!...well, at least to me...and to my family. My mum will always request for this cake to be baked for gatherings or for giveaways...Got this recipe from Rachel Allen @ Good Food Channel website...I've listed the recipe below anyway...

Here goes...

Ingredients ~

225g butter, at room temperature (I just use the whole slab which is 250g)

225g caster sugar (i reduced it slightly as I don't like it too sweet)

4 eggs

2tsp vanilla extract (mine's essence)

225g plain flour

2tsp baking powder

50ml milk

50g cocoa powder, sifted (me lazy, me no sift...muahahahahahaha!)

Lets get started...

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Butter and flour the sides of a 20cm cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.

2. Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3. Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Gradually add the eggs to the butter mixture, beating all the time. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently to mix, then add the milk and mix gently to combine.

4. Tip half of the cake mixture into another large bowl and, into this bowl, fold in the sifted cocoa powder.

5. Place the cake mixtures into the prepared tin by alternating spoonfuls of the vanilla batter with the chocolate batter, then with a skewer or similar implement, gently draw swirls through the cake mixture to ‘marblise’ it. Don’t overmix or you won’t have that wonderful marble effect. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. (I didn't do the swirling as suggested. I just piled on the chocolate and the vanilla batter, shake the cake tin abit to level the batter...)

6. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack and allow to cool before serving.

I love Rachel Allen!

Breakfasts on sunday :o)

I love breakfasts...Its the start of the day and its best when i can truly enjoy my breakfast without having the need to rush off soon after...above are all the pics of breakfasts prepared by me...i don't have a particular favourite, as long as its yummy, i am happy :o)

do check out this lady's website...http://simplybreakfast.blogspot.com/

as for the prepared breakfasts above...they are ~

toasted foccacia bread drizzled with olive oil and then spread with greek caviar spread and topped with boiled eggs! lovely...

fried beef patty with eggs and white bread and hot hot coffee...

pancakes with maple syrup, strawberry milk and hot hot coffee...

toasted white bread with watever toppings that i can find in the fridge topped with mozarella!

and i love this spicy fried rice with keropok and chicken wings...mmmm....
(will include the recipe for this the next time)

Coffee Butter Cake

Love this cake.

Coffee and chocolate are 2 of my favourite things...I got this recipe from this website called Passionate For Baking...The blogger, Deeba has quite a collection of recipes in there and I've chosen this one as I have all the ingredients in hand for it...After trying it, I think its good with that afternoon cuppa...


http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2008/12/coffee-butter-cakefrom-australian.html is the website for u to check out the recipe for this cake...She even included notes at the bottom of the page for the slight changes she has done to the recipe...so nice of her :o)

I'm new yeah...

I didn't believe in this but hey! yes yes i agree, i do love to share somethings...be it either the recipes that I've tried, the delicious food i've enjoyed...the things that I've seen through the photos i've taken...

So enjoy whatever I've shared with you but most importantly, they're to be enjoyed with an open heart...and an open mind :o)