Me Taufiq's Pics

Seems like donkey years since I last updated this blog. Huhu... Don't have time maaah...... (yela tu)

Been meaning to upload a few snapshots of my Budak Kecik Nak Jadi Besar @ Taufiq but as always, housework comes first :P So here are a few for you to sink your teeth into.

Yeah, me and grandpops are gettin' on like a house on fire

Contemplating about the future

Journey of discovery- and losing a sock in the process

Like my new clothes? Grandma gave 'em to me ;)

Wanna pwaaay wif me?

I know it doesn't look much.....at least there's a roof over my head. Right?

The cool guy - up close and personal

Hey you...wanna biscuit?

Free massage anyone?

Cool guy with the cool shades (spek abah sebenarnya :P )

Another order please!

Last night Kak Ti and her neighbour ordered a 1/2 kilo choc moist cake each. Heheh... As always, I experimented using another topping, this time using chocolate ganache made from whipping cream and chocolate bar.

I dunno what they comment on the taste yet but I've tried it before using it on cupcakes I made a few weeks back and it tasted rather delicous (if I may say so myself). It's more creamy than the earlier topping I used. The downside is, it doesn't hold up very well in humid environment. So the cake has to be refridgerated before eating.

Last evening, just as I was decorating the cake without the existence of electricity in my house (power failure la), I was agahst (betul ke spelling?) when all of a sudden the ganache I used for piping suddenly melted in my hands. *Gasp!*

Moral of the story, ganache using whipping cream is better used in a cool, dry place :P Especially if the ratio of the choc : whip cream is 1:1 :P The thing is, I tried using ratio 2:1 but the ganache susah gileer nak kuar dari tiub. Hahaha...

Anyway, aside from that and the fact that Taufiq was bawling his lungs out due to the heat, I rather enjoyed decorating the cakes. I made a Teddy Bear cake and a regular round one. At first I wanted to add colour and make a furry coating for the bear but as it turns out luck was against me. I couldn't use my mixer so I had to abandon my intentions till next time (ada sape nak kek teddy lagi? Gatal nak deco buat furry animal ni) :P Poor Mr. Teddy only got a chocolate coating without any other clothings. Haha... yang terernya I decorated in a somewhat dark atmosphere (dapur gelap walaupun dah buka tingkap).

Poor Mr. Teddy Bear takde baju

Try mendeco walaupun takde karan :P Golap gelita dunia den

Bapaku pulang dari Kota (Kinabalu)

Huhu...

Dad's back in Semenanjung. Last Wednesday he flew down to Kota Kinabalu to see a student. Then on Saturday he took a flight to Tawau and stayed with us for four days.

"Saje-saje datang nak berjalan," he said.

Hehe... Alang-alang dah kat K.K. jengok tengok dotter kat Tawau ni. It's been nearly half a year since we last balik kampung. When dad stayed at our house, lil' Taufiq couldn't keep himself from staring at me dad. He probably was thinking "Who's this person? Lamanya tinggal sini, orang lain selalu datang jap je."

Hehe... Taufiq renung macam tengah analyzing abah je aritu. Mula-mula (biasala) menangis dia bila tengok orang yang tidak dikenali kat dalam rumah. Lama-lama leh lak dia borak-borak atuk dia dengan bunyian "eh", "oh", "hatta" dia :P

Abah lak tengok bukan main layan Taufiq, hehehe... Mak tak datang, adik-adik sekolah. Kalau semua datang mesti lagi best giler, hehe.. Yang kelakarnya, bila abah mula datang sini kitorang ajak pergi Pasar Tanjung dan pasar ikan. Bila abah tengok ada macam-macam ikan terbeliak mata dia. Pastu habis ikan-ikan yang Tidak Diketahui Nama dan Spesisnya pun abah beli.

"Kita mesti cuba masakan yang baru. Abah nak try eksotik dish, ikan-ikan lain dah biasa beli," kata abah sambil menjinijng sebeg ikan Apa-Ntah-Nama dengan sekilo siput besar.

Huhu... Ikan-ikan sini murah, dapatla beli macam-macam. Pastu hari Ahad ajak abah pergi Semporna. Hehe, dapatla abah tengok betapa luaaaasnya Tawau ni, lagi-lagi kalau nak pergi daerah lain. Kalau En. Hubby cuti leh jalan-jalan lagi jauh, hehe..

Chef at Home

Bila balik rumah je terus ke dapur nak masak. Abah tak sabar nak menge'test' resipi baru guna siput besar yang dibeli. Malangnya, sesudah masak didapati siput tu mengeluarkan lendir-lendir yang agak mengelikan. Rasa macam sotong cuma berlendir je. Huhuhu... Tidak dapat ku telan...

Hari Selesa awal pagi abah bertolak ke airpot nak balik Semenanjung. Tak dapat ku ikut sebab Taufiq tidur dan takut laki aku tak sempat nak pergi hantar balik rumah sebab dah nak waktu masuk keje. Huhu.. Sedey ar bila abah balik (tapi control-control ar sikit :p) Taufiq lak dah biasa berapa hari ada orang kat rumah, tiba-tiba senyap je meragam lak bila abah balik. Huhu... Dah la semalam satu petang takde karan, lagila. Projek nak buat kek pun asik tertangguh disebabkan ketiadaan karan. Huhu...

Anyway, kalau ada duit nak je ajak mak dengan Din dengan Na datang sini. Huhu... Tapi ntah bila ye nak cari beribu-ribu dollar tu? :P huhu... Sekian...

P/S: Dalam peti ais tu tak habis lagi ikan-ikannya :P Nanti nak try wat bakar atas dapur mesti best.

Sponge Cake in a Cup

Huaaaargh...

Kinda sleepy but me eyes won't shut (har har). So, what's new today? Huhu, you may not believe it but I tried baking a sponge cake in my new super duper rice cooker ;)

"Rice cooker?!" you're saying.

Yup, you got that right. Hubby made a suprise last weekend by buying me a micro-computer cooker which is multi-function - it can cook, bake cakes, make soup and whip up a porridge. I've only tried cooking rice in it and just now I've tried baking a sponge cake in it. Huhu... Weird, huh, using a rice cooker? The story began when all four of my rice cookers decided to have a strike after using them for only 3-6 months or so. I dunno why but ada la kena elektrik shock la terbakar la pembakar kemek la. Huhu... En. hubby kata kita ni memang takleh pakai barang murah, adaaaa je tak tahan nanti. Huhuhu... Gitu la citenya nape hubby what suprise, hehe... ARIGATO, bang..

Hehe... The funny thing is, this is the first time I've ever made a sponge cake, whether it's using an oven or rice cooker. Rather apprehensive (at first), I made half the recipe and halved it again; one using the rice cooker, the other using the doorless oven. The later I made it into two cupcakes. The cupcakes turned up pretty nice but not too sweet (penimbang punya hal la ni). The rice cooker cake turned up spongey (suprisingly), though rather holey in the middle (hehe..) I don't know why but it's probably because I used 1/4 of the batter, jadi keknya nipis sikit. Haha.
On the whole, it can be said that the experiment for sponge rice cooker cake is OKEY DOKEY (belum finale lagi, kena try kek moist tengok jadi ke tak). Hehe, tengah sengal minggu ni and bajet lari but I'm thinking of baking a cheese cake in that rice cooker. Huhu... Kena tengok camne nanti...

Sponge cake in a cup (habis kena cucuk dengan lidi) :p Nape ntah tertarik dari cup dia. Hmmm...

Tekstur baiiik punya (rather dark because ++serbuk koko)

Tekstur kek guna rice cooker canggih. Hehe... Memang spongey

My Lil' Cupcakes

Huahaha...

Setelah sekian lama sunyi akhirnya bersuara kembali. The reason? Ulang alik gi hospital @ klinik sampai takde masa or mood nak buat keje lain. Penat den mendukung Taufiq yang berat badannya mencecah 7.5kg tu. Takpe, asalkan sihat. Huhu... Hari tu dekat 7 jam kat hospital gara-gara tukar doktor. Huhuhuhu...

So what's new in The Mamat's Family? Huhuhuh... Yessss... After waiting for suuuuch a long time, I've finally got to buy my own set of icing nozzles from Joo Loong bakery supplies. Hehe... Cikai punya brand, bukan dari Wilton. Mahal gak la, for 24 tips about RM40. Kalau beli satu-satu lagi mahal, RM5-8. Nak kumpul 24 tips dah dekat RM200. (For real ke?!) To for me, it's as good as any brand. Here's a sneak peek of my humble nozzles @ tips.

My icing tips set

There are so many design to choose from. But I've only tried a couple that look less intimidating. Huhuhu... Oh yeah, I used a buttercream recipe from http://www.myresipi.com/ and I found it quite OK, not too sweet, and uses krimwell@marvello. For this recipe however I used cremello because that's all that I found at the bakery shop :P The ganache I used cooking chocolate and whipping cream, ratio about 2:1. The results agak sememeh sikit sebab terketar-ketar gak nak buat :P The cuppies I used my Choc Moist Cake about half the batter and I got 12 soufle cups.

Just butterceam

Flowers arrangement without ganache

First attempt of a pin (haha)

Simple pin

Tulip without a stem (?)

Flowers and leaves

A simple butter-fly

Flowers (again)

Stars

(Big) baby booties?

My workstation yang kecah

It's pretty messy playing around with buttercream, especially during the cleanup. But I'll keep on trying next time to better my results. Oh yeah, ada cite baruuu. En. Hubby belikan rice cooker jenis microcomputer. Huhu... Boleh bake punya ;) Next time wat pakai cooker nak test macam mana. Mungkin leh wat kek-kek lain laks ;)