AkuZack: 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The meanderings of an old non-working momma

It's an ordeal trying to decorate a cake with your lil' one wailing and yelling in the background. The result? A very comot cake. But hopefully still tasty :P

Now he's on my lap, konon2 trying to type something on the keyboard like a budak kecik perasan besar. Huhu... He's even swinging his legs to the music like a big budak kecik, the lil tyke. Arghhhh... Tu la akibatnya tido awal. He's hyperactive during midnight, forcing his mother to 'play' with him (play what I dunno la, haha. Malam buta dah. Matahari pun dah lolap).

Next week he's getting his six-month shot. I dunno how this kid stands it but it gives me the willies just getting inject with a syringe every time for my three-monthly perancang keluarga. Huuaaahh... Lobang2 badan den.

Well. Guess I'll try and dodoi me big little boy. Ta!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

It's a dead, tiring, and torturous week

It's been a couple of weeks since I last updated my blog. It's not as if I haven't anything to write about. To be honest, I've been pretty busy arranging some new-bought furnitures at home. Hehe...

About a month ago hubby's been talking about this simple yet nice dressing table he saw at a furniture shop. It's not too expensive, just right for a simple ol' non-working momma like me (I don't do make-up. Never have and p'bably never will. So it'll p'bably stay empty except for my hair brush and perfumes if I bought it, huhu). N'ways, he said it was 'just nice' and said he could picture me sitting on the stool, doing my hair in front of the mirror. Cewah... He also said he scouted out a few almari baju and kitchen counters, well within our budget, so to say. If there's a small coffee table we'll probably buy one too, he added.

So one fine morning (it was last Sunday) we went to Perdana Furniture shop in Tawau to look at these 'fine' things. As usual, when planned to buy three things we ended up with six instead. The other three? Well, we couldn't find a small coffee table that's not been 'attached' to a set of sofas (mahal beb beli satu set semata2 nak meja :p ), so instead we bought a Mickey Mouse cupboard for our clothes, two kitchen counters for my kitchen appliances, a desk for my hubby's PC, a dressing table, and an office chair (ala2 big boss punya).

As always, after buying new furnitures there's no other thing in our minds than to think "Mana aku nak letak sume benda ni?". Huhuhu... And so begins the tale of moving old furnitures about the house to 'accomodate' these 'newly-arrivals'.

Phewww... It's no joke man buying six furnitures at once. First, you got to scrub 'em clean. Second, you got to line 'em with paper so that it's much easier to clean them later. Third, you got to move 'em around till you're satisfied with the results. And it's not just new furnitures that has got to be rubbed down. The old ones needs to be scrubbed too to get rid of the Cicak Man's cousin's poop (paham2 jelah eh). And if that's not bad, you need to scrub the floors too to get rid of grime, dirt, and fallen Cicak Man's poop. Good grief. Just thinking about it makes me tired. So I guess I'll turn in now. Cheerio!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Resepi Sup Tulang dan White Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Hoy yeahhh.. Hoy yeahhh...

My small yet humble dinner 'party' was, if I might say so myself, quite a success.

I had some trouble earlier this afternoon like turning up with a poor, watery cempelang spaghetti sauce (my hubby made a stint, saying it had no taste at all. Huhu... Nak nangis je rasa tadi). But then I managed to fix it up by adding some more ingredients to it (like salt, for instance. I'm such a loser when adding salt to my dishes. I'm always having nightmares making them too salty to eat. Huhu...)

Like promised, Kak Su and family came round 9 pm this evening for dinner. I cooked up a couple of dishes, like the usual spaghetti sauce and kuah kurma. I also boiled half a kilo of tulang lembu for several hours till they're tender and made a sup tulang/steak bones, a Singapore recipe if I'm not mistaken. I found the recipe about a year ago and found it to be tasty. Yummy... Hehe... Kak Su siap tambah lagi bebbb.

I forgot to take a pic of the steak bones (very remissed of me) but here's the recipe in case you want to try it out yourself. The original recipe didn't exactly state how much of the ingredients were needed so I adjusted it myself. For the recipe, here it is.

Sup Tulang @ Steak Bones (don't remember from where)

Bahan2:
5 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
1cm ginger
3 tangkai cili kering ditumbuk
2,3 tablespoons of tomato sauce or just cillie sauce
2 tablespoon of tomato puree
1/2 kg of steak bones
1/2 a potato, boiled and blended in water for puree)
1 egg till soup thickens
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
dash of white pepper
oil for frying
1 tablespoon of rempah sup

Cara2:

Boil steak bones with rempah sup till steak is tender (about 2,3 hours. The longer the better).
Grind garlic, onion, and ginger.
Heat oil, fry chillie paste and grinded ingredients till fragrant.
Add in tender steak bones, tomato sauce, tomato puree and stock. Not too much as this soup is supposed to be rather thick.
Add salt, sugar, white pepper and zeal.
Add potato puree and stir till thickens.
Add egg, stir for a while and remove from heat.

Komen: It's finger licking good! You can eat it with french bread, nasi putih, or just by itself. Huahaha... Rugi kalau tak try...

Now, you might be wondering what happened to the dreaded, newly improved butter icing? Frankly, it was AWESOME! Not too sweet, nor plain, but quite nice. In fact, just the way I was hoping it to be. Haw haw haw... Mana tak nyer, guna cokelat putih dalam icing. Kayo gilo den... Kuang3... Ni kalo orang tempah mau up harga ni, gue pun tak selalu (this is first time) guna icing bercokelat putih. Satu bar cokelat putih pun dah berapa harga dia. Icing biasa pun bakeri cas mahal, huahahaha...

Yang lebih membanggakan, Kak Su siap tapau balik lagi. Huahaha... Oh senangnya dalam hati...bila orang makan makanan kita rasa hepi... Hoy yeahhh... Hoy yeahhh...

Here's a picture of the cake after it's been more then half eaten:

The after look

And here's the cake before it was cut and eaten:

The before look

It's weighs about 500g and I used a small baking pan. The top layer I slathered some chocolate ganache and topped it off with a generous amount of chocolate rice. It was rather thick so I halved it and spread some chocolate ganache then stuck it together, making it a very chocolatey cake. Yummy... Naseb baik icing tak manis sangat, kalo tak ada yang patah gigi. Huhu...

Because I'm a very generous person (konon la tu :p ), I'm pasting the recipe of the newly improved chocolate-butter icing below.

White Chocolate Buttercream Icing (by yours truly)

Bahan2:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup icing sugar (diayak)
1/4 cup or more white chocolate yang dicincang halus

Cara2:

Beat shortening till fluffy.
Add butter, beat again till fluffy.
Add sugar then add vanilla essence.
Add white chocolate a bit at a time and beat at high speed till it's white and creamy. If you want it to hold its shape add more chocolate or more icing sugar.

If you're interested in ordering a cake I'd be happy to be at your service (if you live in Tawau and kenal my hubby la. Susah nak anto yang jauh2). To guarantee a not so comot cake you might want place your order a bit earlier though. My Taufiq is when he's good, he's very good. When he's not, he's very loud. Huhu... Tapi hari ni alhamdulillah, baik sangat dia. Mak pun tak penat nak masak untuk orang. Cayang bucuk mak yang wangi ni. Muuaaahhh...

Maybe when I have a new oven I'll try other recipes. Meanwhile, you have to put up with my one and only kek cokelat kukus :P Ciao!

The newly improved butter icing

Huahaha...

Tomorrow I'm going to invite some friends over for dinner for the first time since I married. Huhu... Debau-debau gak hati ku ini. Hope nothing gets burnt or anything or tastes cempelang. Sometimes my tastebuds just run away from me when I'm feeling a bit under the weather, especially now it's always raining. Hingusan le memanjang.

Muahaha... Made a butter icing for the third time using the same ingredients as the last but omitting a cupful or two of icing sugar and replacing it with white chocolate. Looks kinda appetizing, but I haven't tasted it yet with the cake I baked yesterday, 'cause I've been saving it for tomorrow's dinner party. Huhu... Fuuh fuuuh... Bior la sodap dan jadi icing dia.

So here's what it looks like with the newly improved icing:

White chocolate icing

Amacam? Lawa tak? Believe it or not, it took me TWO 1/2 days to decorate this cake. It's dugaan besar having a kid who's always demanding us to play/berborak/kendong/menyusu/etc him everytime we want to do something really important. 'Nways, the cake weighs about 500g+-, and I made two batches (the other I served it for some guests who came for Raya Haji. Didn't take a picture of it but it was decorated quite simply. All my guests were kids, by the way. Huhu...)

Oh yeah, the day before Raya Haji a friend of my hubby's ordered a cake from me. Naturally, I was quite suprised and rather nervous 'cause I never had any experience in selling anything. Bab bagi orang saje2 makan tu ada la. Haha... So I made the usual moist chocolate cake and got two batches (my pengukus was an old periuk nasi and couldn't fit a baking pan more than 8 inches so I had to use a smaller one). After a lot of stopping to layan Taufiq and preparing for Raya Haji I managed to decorate the cakes around midnight till 3 o'clock. Huhu... Mamai gak dibuatnya.

P/S: So sorry Kak Ti if the cakes were a bit comot2. Mata dah kabur dek tak cukup tidur 2 hari. Huhuhu... Otak pun dah tepu dah sampai tak pikiaq macam mana nak tapau balik. Ya ampuuun...

And here's what they looked like before being eaten:

1st Chocolate cake

2nd chocolate cake

Yawnnn... I think I'll go beddy-bye now. It's late and there's a whole day of work in front of me. See ya later aligator. Ciao!

Monday, December 1, 2008

My Kid Just Tiarap By Himself

I never knew why people, especially women, go completely ga-ga over babies. Be it the tot's cute or a newborn who's as shrivelled as a month-old apple left in the fridge. Until I found myself going completely bonkers over other momma's babies a few days ago, at my hubby's friend's house-opening night.

I had always thought people go ga-ga on purpose. You know, like mengampu si emak baby. But now that I have my own baby kid I find it was a natural feeling to be ga-ga over them. It doesn't matter if it was your own kid or someone else's. Must be because of the motherly feeling deep inside ourselves. Truth be told, before I was married I never did feel more than a little bit bemused over these holy terrors. Then suddenly I have two nieces who're the most Terror Twins in the whole of Malaysia. They're the cutest things imaginable, but also the most hyper-active, terror-screaming, big brown-eyed, adorable two-year olds I've ever laid my eyes on. And they also have the curliest, loveliest hair I absolutely envy ;p

Mayday! Mayday! Omigosh! Just as I'm typing this my Taufiq just did a tiarap all by himself! And he ain't screaming (yet). Huhu... That's my boy! He's taking some deep breaths to angkat his kepala (which is pretty heavy I guess. It's bigger than his butt anyway, huhu...)

Yikes! Look at the time! Gotta go, me babe's smelling a wee bit smelly 'cause he ain't got his bath yet due to getting up late. Till we meet again, adios!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Taufiq's pics

Because I have nothing better to do and the whole world's asleep, I decided to upload some images of my son for your interest. Here they are and feel free to comment ;)

Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin

The look of the innocent

Gelak sakan nampak? :p

Between the blurred looks

Giget jangan tak giget

The handsome guy - by Leonardo da Vinci

Wut are you looking at?!

Before - and after - the dreaded haircut

Kerasnya jari ni. Nyam nyam...

The cool guy with the drooling air liuq

A pirate with a red eye (patch)- courtesy of Bapak Sengal Inc.

Rockers terbaru in Tawau... Goreeeng...

Omigosh! I have four hands! Muahahaha...

Taufiq is nearly budak kecik dah jadi besar

Went to Giant this evening to buy some essential things for my fridge. Huhu... 'Twas packed with all kinds of folks- from lil toots to tottering ol' grandmas. Wasn't suprising considering it was gaji day today. Huhu... Wish I had a billion dollars. Wouldn't I just lurve to buy a bigger fridge.

As usual, I got to carry around Taufiq when we went shopping. Nearly had an indigestion when Taufiq nearly slid through my pelukan (he was asleep. I swear that kid did that on purpose. He's forever taking snoozes when we're out shopping). And man, if I didn't know better I'd swear he's added another 10kg. Huhu... Dahla mak bapaknya kurus kedengking :P Taip hari exercise free je.

The first thing we did when we grabbed a cart was to usha-usha the line of fridges at the entrance. We have our eye on a beaut, make LG. The price's a beaut too, about a thou ringgit or so. Then we usha-usha an oven, cost about RM250+- or so. It was big, like the size of my mak mertua's oven. After that we headed for the food section and grabbed the essentials that we needed; like potato wedges, half a kilo of chicken to make tandoori, and a pound of beef. I didn't have the mood to make complicated dishes this week so I told hubby to get easy-to-cook food instead. Haha... Pemalasnya mak........

While we were usha-ushaing some other things, my eyes accidently wandered to three pairs of kid socks hanging at a rack. The price was reasonable, about RM5+- or so. Of course, being a mother I just grabbed a pack and tossed it in the cart. Can't wait to try it on Taufiq 'cause he couldn't fit his baby socks no more (case nak jimat la ni, kid's quickly growing outa his clothes. Badan pun mengalahkan budak 1 tahun. Huhu... Sabau jela).

So tomorrow I'm going to wash his new socks and try them out to see if they fit. Kalau fit, be prepared to party because my Taufiq is nearly budak kecik dah jadi besar. Till then, adios!

About. Taufiq.

Hari ni ok la Taufiq. Pagi2 dia bangun awal giler, tengok abah dia nak siap2 g keje kot. Pas tukar pampers dia g la main2 jap dengan dia. Selalu bila petang2 main guling2 dengan dia. Suka giler dia bila guling2 dengan mak dia, lagi2 bila tiarap atas mak dia. Tapi biasa la, tiarap lama2 pn nanti meraung dia sebab dia ni tabiat tak suka tiarap lama2. Nak kata macam takut pun ada. Huhu... Apa raaa...

Budak kecik nak jadi besar yang takut tiarap lama2 :P

Biasa la, dah bangun awal sangat nanti mengantuk balik dia. Apa lagi, sambung la tido dua tiga jam. Dan mak dia apa lagi, tumpang la krooh krooh gak (gue kaki tido sebelum kawen sampai la sekarang, huhu...tapi tak tidur petang lagi dah tau).

Sekarang ni makin kuat makan Taufiq. Dan nampak gaya baju dan seluarnya semua dah fit2 ala2 model posing badan :P Kalau tak bagi makan satu kali sehari tu nanti mula la dia, menangis je kang minta nak sussuuu jek. Sekarang ntah berapa kilo ntah dia, dah sebulan lebih dah tak timbang. Khamis ni nak g klinik, suntik untuk 5 bulan.

Konon2 suap sendiri la ni

Salah satu hobi Taufiq sekarang masukkan semua benda dalam mulut. Tak kira le baju ke selimut ke pampers ke apa ke. Apa2 je yang dekat mesti nak disumbatkan dalam mulut. Yang paling meletihkan time nak pakaikan dia baju pas mandi. Time tu la kita bergusti2 dengan dia rebut2 baju la seluar la pampers la bedak la apa2 jela. Huhu...

Yang kesian sekarang dia kena ruam kat belakang badan dia. Payah giler doh nak ilangkan. Dia ni dah la kuat berpeluh. Sekarang ni pakai baju berlubang2 je (baju yang jarang, bukan koyak2 berlubang tau :P)

Alamak. Anak dah bangun la. Len kali sambung lagi. Ciao bebeh...

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Aku. Sayang. Taufiq.

Malam ni Taufiq menangis je, tak nak tidur. Geram gak dibuatnya tapi cuba tahan2. Last2 bawa dia ke bilik pc sambil pasang kipas. Ingatkan dia panas sebab badan dia memang beruam2, dia ni sensitip panas dia ni. Dahla bilik depan memang hangat je. Sambil dukung2 dia, aku sambil cuba dodoi2kan dia tapi tak tidur2 gak. Huhu... Dalam geram2 pening2 ngantuk2 memikirkan camne nak tidurkan dia tiba2 teringat pesan mak mertua aku kat Langat.

"Kalo anak nangis nyanyikan dia zikir LA ILAHA ILLALLOHUL MALIKUL HAQQUL MUBIN. Budak2 suka dengar zikir tu..." mak mertuaku cakap suatu ketika dahulu masa di Langat.

Aku pun try la nyanyikan kat telinga dia, sambil usap2 belakang dia. Lama2 aku tengok mata dia makin ngantuk...makin rapat...tangan pun makin slack...... Dia dah tertidur...

Tanpa aku sedari suaraku teresak2....menjadi garau...air mataku mengalir... Tak dapat aku ungkapkan betapa sayunya hatiku mendukung anakku yang tertidur sambil mendengar zikir...mendengar suara mak dia yang tak best ni.

Dalam hati aku aku menghentam diriku. Betapa bodohnya aku ni. Hinanya aku ni. Si anak kecil yang tak berdosa ni boleh terlelap mendengar zikir. Lepas meletakkan dia aku terus online cari2 kot2 ada mp3 zikir ni sambil search2 rahsia disebalik zikir ni. Lalu aku terjumpa website ini... http://alhawa.wordpress.com/2008/01/

Tidurkan anakmu dengan zikrUllah.
Posted by alhawa under Lagu Tidurkan Anak

Inilah kempen saya di sini. Tidurkan anak-anak kita dengan ungkapan yang mulia. Ceritakan kisah-kisah tauladan dan nasihatkan dengan kata-kata yang baik (walaupun pada kita dia belum pandai bercakap dan belum cukup besar untuk berfikir.)

Apabila dia sudah mulai mengantuk, bacakan kalimah-kalimah yang baik dengan harapan akan masuk ke dalam dirinya sebagai cahaya yang dapat menerangi fikirannya, hatinya dan segala anggota tubuh badannya. Sehingga apabila dia bangun daripada tidur, dia menjadi seorang anak yang lebih baru, lebih baik daripada sebelumnya.

Inilah antara usaha kita, yang sering diabaikan oleh kita sebelum anak-anak itu tidur.
Saya hadiahkan kepada para ibu dan ayah sekalian beberapa lagi zikir dan selawat yang mungkin boleh dijadikan sebagai pilihan untuk menidurkan anak-anak kita. Saya tidak menjual hakcipta suara saya ini kepada sesiapa maka harap anda turut mengamalkannya dengan jujur dan bijaksana.

Kesian Taufiq...dah berapa hari dah dia macam meragam. Agaknya ada orang rindukan dia. Aku pun tak tahu. Mungkin gak dia rindukan seseorang.

Terima kasih Taufiq sebab menyedarkan mak. Teringat masa mak ngandungkan Taufiq, dengan perutnya yang besar, susah nak bangun, nak duduk. Dengan keadaan berjauhan dengan abah dengan keluarga mak sendiri. Dalam keadaan tu la mak belajar berdikari. Bersusah2 tanpa ada orang tersayang disisi. Tapi keluarga mertua mak nasib baik understanding walaupun banyak sangat dugaan masa tu. Mak tak dapat nak luahkan kat sini...biarlah jadi rahsia mak dengan Tuhan. Tapi mak tahu Taufiq faham...sebab Taufiq pun dalam perut mak masa tu...

"LA ILAHA ILLALLOHUL MALIKUL HAQQUL MUBIN,

MUHAMMADUR ROSULULLOH SHODIQUL WA'DIL AMIN"

Friday, November 7, 2008

Resepi Kuah Yong Taufu [or steamboat]

A couple of days ago I got extra busy and made myself a chocolate cake with chocolate + coffee icing. My, did my teeth nearly fall off with all that sinful sweetness! Hubby said it was a tad too sweet for him and it wasn't suprising, considering I secretly added a layer of chocolate ganache underneath all that icing *wink, wink*

Truth be told, it was the second time I made a butter icing. The first time was a disaster 'cause I used blended granulated sugar *har har..* You could still feel the crunch crunch when eating it :p (dahla bagi mak mertuaku rasa, huhu... Jatuh reputasi gue). So now I'm in search of a new butter icing recipe without using too much icing, huhu...

I don't know what came over my husband but I suspect he was having a case of mengidam over a good steamy plate of Yong Tau Fu (dah lama dah dia tak makan, huhu). We bought half a kilo of mixed veggie/seafood at Giant's the other day and he asked me to make a Kuah Yong Tau Fu which, frankly, I never made before. Poor me and Taufiq were sick that morning, so my husband considerately cooked a chicken leg in boiling hot water himself, for about an hour, to make the broth. Only trouble is the fat of the chicken leg didn't came oozing out like it always did. Turns out you have to use fresh chicken legs to do that, huhu... So in order to make it up I popped in a Maggi chicken stock and 2 cloves of garlic with an inch of ginger and let it boil for about another hour or so. When nearly all the liquid was disolved I added a pinch of salt. It then turned out better than the earlier version, huhu...

So the next step was to search for the Kuah Yong Tau Fu. I did find some recipes but some of the ingredients just didn't setuju with my tekak. In the end I more or less made it up myself, with a few handy hints/ideas from my hubby, hehe... The original recipe is from myresipi.com website or you could look below.

As usual, dah nak habis baru teringat nak tangkap gambar. Huhu...

The cake - by Zack Zachoes

Kuah Yong Tau Fu/Steamboat (2 person kot)

(minami@myresipi.com)

http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/632

Bahan2:
1 sb cili giling
1/2 inci gula melaka

1 1/2 sb tepung jagung + sedikit air

1 sb minyak

1 sb sos tiram

1 sb sos tomato

1 sb sos cili

secubit garam

sedikit gula

2 C air

bijan goreng

Cara2:

Goreng gula melaka bersama minyak hingga mendidih.
Masukkan cili dan biarkan mendidih sebentar. Masukkan air perlahan-lahan (ia akan melonjak2) dan biarkan mendidih sebentar.
Masukkan sos tiram, sos cili dan sos tomato. Kemudian masukkan bancuhan tepung jagung bagi memekatkan kuah.
Masukkan garam dan gula (jika kurang rasa).
Taburkan bijan goreng ketika menghidang.

Komen: Hubby said "It's real sedaap" macam iklan mee sedap, hehe... As always, feel free to add in whatever ingredients you want. When I did this I didn't have any bijan goreng but it still tasted yummylicous ;) Both me and my husband don't eat too much spicy food, hence the small quantity of cili and no hint of belacan.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

What If...

What if I were rich...
Would I be a humble and generous person?
Or be an arrogant and stingy Mrs. Scrooge?

What if I were a genius...
Would I help to save the world from all its turmoil?
Or worsen it with nuclear bombs and other weapons of mass distruction?

What if I were beautiful?
Would I be unaware of my beauty?
Or use it to my advantage?

What if I were big and strong?
Would I help the weak and sick?
Or would I turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to their helplessness?

What if I were young?
Would I always think of dying one day?
Or would I just delude myself with immortality?

What if I were happy?
Would I share my happiness with others?
Or would I ignore those who are sad and need a shoulder to cry on?

What if I were bad?
Would I think I will be good and amend myself to all my sins?
Or would I just continue living in ignorance till the end of time?

What if I didn't exist?
Would I never be a nuisance to anybody?
Or would everybody's lives go on just as before?

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

When in Doubt, Eat [banana] Cake

Muahaha

Don't know what to do today. La la la la laaa.

Had another attack of cake today but this time it's banana cake. Muahaha... So apa lagi. Lenyek pisang, jangan tak lenyekkk. Huhuhu... Truth is, there's a bunch of really old bananas that's quietly rotting away in my fridge (and I mean really rotting, as in turning black, I suppose?). So, instead of letting them all go to waste, I made it my duty to search the Internet for a kek pisang kukus.

"Kukus? Again?!" you say. Yup, due to the lack of an oven door, *sambil jeling-jeling oven. Bila la cik abang nak beli baru ni. Huhu..* kukus is the only way to go. So I dug around and found some two or three recipes that called for kukus-ing, and used the most economical way of sellecting the most appropriate recipe, by the use my finger and chanting eeny-meeny-miny-mo. And the winner is... Kek Pisang Kukus Sabrina from the http://resipi.net/cookbook/question.php?ID=886 website! Muahaha...

And here's the recipe in case you're thinking of kukus-ing your own banana cake.

Kek Pisang Kukus Sabrina from http://resipi.net/cookbook/question.php?ID=886

Bahan-bahan:
2 cawan tepung kek naik sendiri (I used tepung gandum+1 sk baking powder)
1/2 sudu teh bikarbonat soda
3/4 cawan gula
2 biji telur
1 1/2 cawan pisang emas yang dilenyek
1/2 cawan minyak
Sedikit esen pisang

Cara-cara:

Pukul telur dengan gula sehingga gula hancur.
Masukkan pisang + esen.
Masukkan minyak.
Akhir sekali masukkan tepung kek naik sendiri + soda bikarbonat (yg telah di ayak).
Masukkan dalam loyang dilengser minyak dan tutup dengan foil.
Kukuskan (I did an hour).

Komen: My cake shrunk! Well, yeah, ok, so I tweaked the recipe a bit, and maybe used too much banana (I blended instead of lenyek, huhu...) and, well, yeah, I might've blended all the ingredients instead of using the kaup balik method or something, but the important thing is...THERE IS NO MORE ROTTING BANANAS IN MY FRIDGE! Yippee! And if your cake looks as shrunken and as wizen as an old man's face (kidding), just camouflage it and pour a generous amount of chocolate to cover it (muahaha...)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Resepi Spaghetti bolognese and other stories

Yawnnnn

It's nearly maghrib. Taufiq's having forty winks while his mom's meandering around the house like a sohai (muahahaha...kes gara-gara tak tau nak buat apa la ni). In the end buka juga Internet and searching for recipes, huhu...

I promised to upload the latest picture of kek coklat kukus so here it is:

Gambar kek coklat kukus agak blurred

Picture's a bit blurred but hey, it's the taste that matters, right? I made the middle using raspberry jam with a bit of water and a pinch of agar-agar and melted it over the stove. Huhu... When your fridge is empty of fresh fruits, get creative and use plain ol' jam. Muahaha... Doesn't taste bad either ;)

Speaking of empty fridges, I made my own spaghetti bolognese the other day, using what're nearly (but not quite) expired ingredients in the fridge. Yeah...yeah... So I'm a bit lazy in stocking my own fridge but wrestling/elbowing/colliding my way across an aisle full of trolleys in supermarkets (terutama Milimewa) just doesn't make my day. And speaking of supermarkets, there's a GIANT newly opened in Tawau! Gosh! Isn't that amazing? The opening day was just too much for me, though. It was pelting with rain and yet people were swarming like bees around honey. The traffic jam was as long as Penang bridge, and for the record, I only got a tiny glimpse of the sign board from afar. Huhuhu... I'm still getting dreams about going to Giant, although I did go the second night. Didn't realize inside was as chilly as my fridge and ended up with a cold and a mountain of used tissues. Huhu... Padan muka :P

Where was I? Oh yeah, spaghetties. Well, it's easy enough to make them I guess but I just use store-bought ones, hehe... Kantoi... But the sauce I made 'em meself ;) First thing you got to do is...BUY THE INSTANT ONES FIRST. You try 'em out first, get the feel/texture on your tastebuds, and THEN... Trumpets please folks... You turn the package and voila! Read the ingredients! Muahaha... Sounds easy enough, eh? And here's where you get creative. If, say, you ain't got no herbs in your cupboard, just do as I do. Use ingredients that already has herbs in them! Elementary, my dear Watson. Elementary.

Dah nak habis baru ingat nak tangkap gambo

Spaghetti bologonese apa2-je-ada

(2 persons)

Bahan2 spaghetti pasta:
spaghetti pasta for two
2 ulas bawang putih, dikupas kulit dan di crushed
sedikit minyak

Bahan2 sos:
2-3 sudu besar sos tomato
1 sudu besar sos cili
3-4 sudu besar tomato puree
1 biji buah tomato (dibuang biji dan kulit dan dipotong dadu)
1 biji sosej ayam/daging perisa Italian (sliced)
1 keping daging burger ayam/daging (dicincang2)
1 labu bawang besar (dipotong dadu)
2 ulas bawang putih (finely chopped)
1 sudu besar tepung jagung + sikit air
1 inci lobak merah (dipotong dadu kecil2) -optional
sedikit brokoli (buatkan supaya pokoknya kecil2) -optional
sedikit minyak untuk menumis
1 cawan air

Cara2:

Panaskan air dalam periuk dan masukkan spaghetti, sikit minyak, dan 2 ulas bawang putih. Masakkan spaghetti dan toskan airnya.
Dalam kuali, goreng daging burger sampai masak. Masukkan sosej dan goreng sekejap. Angkat dan ketepikan.
Menggunakan minyak daging burger tadi, tumis bawang besar dan bawang putih hingga naik bau. Masukkan daging dan sosej tadi dan gaul rata.
Masukkan sos tomato, sos cili, tomato puree dan buah tomato. Kacau rata dan masukkan air. Biarkan mendidih sebentar kemudian masukkan campuran tepung jagung.
Masukkan lobak dan brokoli. Renih dalam 5-7 minit atas api kecil.
Tutup api dan tuangkan 1 senduk sos atas sepinggan spaghetti dan hidangkan.

Komen: Kalau agak2 terasa kurang tu feel free to tambah bahan2 lagi. Masa masak tu main campak2 sambil rasa, hehe... And maybe you're thinking "What's this woman thinking? Putting BROCKOLI in her spaghetti?!" Hey, you won't know until you try. The rather bitter taste adds a kick you'll never get in original Italian spaghetti (sape je yang tak betul macam ku, huhu...).

Friday, October 24, 2008

Resepi Kek Coklat Kukus (Lembap) @ Steamed Coklat [Moist] Cake

UPDATE 28 MAY 2011: Resepi ini saya guna untuk tempahan dan setakat ni ia tidak mengecewakan. Enjoy~

Couldn't sleep and it's just past midnight. Hubby and Taufiq are snoring away peacefully while my eyes are wide awake and watchful (hmm...).

Because I'm such a hard-working momma I made a chocolate cake this evening (had an attack of chocolatey craving today, huhu...) So I made a simple but tasty kek coklat kukus I found from http://www.myresipi.com/ a few months ago. Because my oven door's exploded a year ago (cause still unexplainable but probably because of moisture on the oven door), I had to find only cakes @ kueh that can be kukus-ed. Huhuhu... Not much choice as baked ones I found out.
'Nways, here's a recipe I picked out and tried a gazillion (is that a number?) times without fail, thanks to Lilydvalley. I'll post a pic of the cake I made today next time. Mean time, enjoy drooling over the picture of the chocolatey-drenched cake that I made a few months back, hohoho... You might want to try it out yourself ;)

Kek coklat (lembap) kukus @ Steamed Chocolate (Moist) Cake

Lilydvalley@myresipi.com (http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/557)

loyang size 8"

Yummy... Siap bagi jiran lagi, huhu...

Chocolate moist cake- half recipe guna loyang 6"

Bahan:
A:
1C gula perang - ku guna gula pasir
1C susu segar perisa coklat - ku guna 1sb susu tepung penuh krim + air hingga cukup 1C
1C minyak masak sayuran - boleh juga guna 250g butter
3/4C serbuk koko - ku guna serbuk koko keluaran Sabah sebab kokonya gelap
1/2C susu pekat manis@creamer manis
1 sudu teh esen vanila - tambahanku
***Satukan semua bahan dalam periuk besar. Kacau atas api kecil menggunakan whisk telur/sudu hingga gula larut. Tutup api dan ketepikan dari dapur gas. Biarkan sejuk pada suhu bilik atau hingga suam.

B:
1C + 1/4C tepung gandum
1 sudu teh soda bikarbonat
1 sudu teh baking powder
***Ayak bahan-bahan di atas dalam mangkuk lain. Ketepikan.

C:
3 biji telur - pukul guna garfu dan ketepikan.

Cara-cara:

Panaskan kukusan dahulu. Lengser dasar dan keliling loyang kek bulat 8" (ketinggian minima 2") dengan minyak masak. Alaskan dasarnya dengan baking paper. Ketepikan.
Masukkan Bahan C ke dalam Bahan A yang telah suam/suhu bilik. Kacau sebati.
Masukan Bahan B sedikit demi sedikit ke dalam campuran tadi. Kacau hingga tepung tidak kelihatan.
Note: Ni tambahan saya nak pastikan betul2 sebati. Tapiskan bancuhan tadi guna penapis halus ke dalam mangkuk lain dan gaul sebati (boleh juga tapiskan terus ke dalam loyang kek).
Kemudian tuangkan ke dalam loyang dan tutup loyang dengan aluminium foil rapat-rapat untuk elak wap air masuk.
Kukus selama 1 jam - 1jam 15 minit. Guna api sederhana.
Angkat dari kukusan dan sisip keliling kek menggunakan pisau. Sejukkan kek atas redai kek.

UPDATE: Cara-cara di atas telah diedit kembali pada 21 Dec 2011. Satu adunan di atas akan dapat 1 liter yang apabila sudah dikukus beratnya lebih 1kg. 500ml adunan atau separuh resepi di atas akan dapat 1/2kg kek.

Untuk hiasan: (don't remember rembat dari mana, huhu)

Chocolate Topping

Bahan2:
1/2 cwn susu pekat manis
1/2 cwn serbuk koko
1 sudu besar majerin/butter
sedikit air masak (incase pekat sangatlah)

Cara2:

Masak ke semua bahan atas api kecil.
Tambah air jika terlalu pekat hingga dapat consistency yang dikehendaki.
Tuangkan ke atas kek yang disejukkan tadi.
Hiaskan dengan manik2/coklat urai/seangkatan.

Komen: Kek ni lagi ngancam kalau disimpan dalam peti ais beberapa jam.

Uh huh. Somebody dah buat perasmian and had a slice of the cake in the fridge tonight. Wonder who that could be? (muahahaha...)

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Resepi Slice Cheesecake

Taufiq's been pretty good today. We went to the clinic this morning to check up two smallish lumps on his neck just beneath his ears. Turns out to be his glands which swelled up a bit 'cause of demam dan batuk. My poor baby.

Hubby's not home yet (he didn't come home for lunch 'cause of a taklimat the whole day). Don't know what to do today after cooking a simple lunch of nasi ayam so I surfed the Internet a bit. Had a stroke of luck of finding the hard-to-find recipe of baking a cheesecake using cheese slices at http://www.myresipi.com/, huhu... (berapa lama dah cari daaa...). Haven't tried it yet but I'll post it below for your curiosity.

Resipi Slice Cheesecake
onigiri@myresipi.com (http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/3703)

Photo from onigiri@myresipi.com

Bahan-bahan ( kek saiz 20cm )
4-5 keping slice cheese (kepingan cheese Kraft/Cheesedale/etc.)
200 ml susu segar
70 gram butter atau marjerin
70 gram tepung gandum (diayak dahulu)
70 gram gula
4 biji telur saiz M
beberapa titik esen vanila

Cara-cara

Potong atau siat slice cheese kecil-kecil dan campurkan dengan susu segar,
kemudian masukkan dalam periuk, gunakan api perlahan dan biarkan slice cheese tadi cair. Kacau sentiasa.
Masukkan butter dan kacau hingga larut, tutup api dan sejukkan sebentar.
Asingkan putih telur dan kuning telur, pukul putih telur bersama gula hingga menjadi meringue.
Di dalam bekas lain pukul kuning telur hingga kembang dan masukkan ke dalam adunan cheese tadi
Masukkan tepung sedikit demi sedikit dan pukul lagi, pastikan adunan tidak berketul.
Akhir sekali campurkan meringue ke dalam adunan tadi dan berberapa titik esen vanila, gunakan cara kaup balik supaya adunan rata. Gris acuan kek dengan marjerin dan alaskan dengan kertas. Masukkan adunan kek di dalam acuan .
Bakar pada suhu 170 darjah celcius selama 20 minit dan turunkan suhu 140 darjah selama 40 minit. Gunakan acuan kek berukuran 20cm dan letakkan sedikit air di bawah dulang pembakar (cara bain marie), untuk mendapatkan kek yang elok teksturnya.
Hias ikut kreativiti sendiri atau dimakan begitu sahaja. Kek ini lembut dan ringan. Tak rugi mencubanya.

UPDATE 7/4/2011: I really do this again, guna gambar sendiri :P Don't worry, dah pernah buat dan memang taste dia so lembut and creamy. Huhuhu..

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Between the blurred lines

Right.

Now that I have my own humble blog I'm stuck about what to write about eventhough I know I want to write about something but I don't know what to write about.

Confused? You're not alone.

'Nways, hubby's been showing off his blog to me for a couple of days now and I can't say I blame him. It's pretty cool to have your own blog (might help if you have something to say though) and show it to your friends. He's been talking about his little fishies (Nemo and Marley and the gang) and our lil tot, Taufiq.

Our Taufiq's getting pretty big now and certainly rather heavy. He's 3++ months old and has the loudest bawl in all of Tawau (even our jiran from the other side of our taman can hear him, huhu). He weighs about 6 kilos or so, and still gaining. People think he's a mat salleh celup 'cause he's fair and has the longest, fairest, silkiest hair imaginable. Though now his abah baru je potong rambut dia sebab everyone often mistaken him for a girl. Sob... Sob...

Karsian anak mak...

One thing I'd say about my Taufiq that is he loves to berlagak budak kecik nak jadi besar. Baring-baring tak main ar... Sekarang duduk nak macam big boss. He was not even 2 months old when he 'demanded' us to hold him like he's sitting by himself. Huhu...
Not so long ago he's been wailing/yelling/bawling/etc. to his mak abah to carry him depan-depan konon-konon macam dia nak berjalanlah. The only trouble is his abah goes to work everyday and only comes back home around 5pm. Which leaves his poor old mum to lug him around the house when he wants a 'walk'. (Imagine carrying a 5kg bag of rice plus another two 500g for the whole day, 7 days a week. Now that's heavy).
And recently he's been trying (with much crying and determination) to mengiring and get up by himself. And of course, with not much success. He usually ends up crying with frustration, poor kid.
Oops. It's nearly 1am and I'm dead tired. Maybe next time I'll post a recipe or two I tried from the Internet. Till next time. Adios!