Beach Blanket

I've been in Penang for more than 2 months now. For some reason, I never had a chance to meet Julie or should I say Dr. Julie Wong. (sorry Jules, I just have to mention the Dr. *giggles*), Finally the day comes.. What day?? The day where this girl has some free time!

Ever since I know her (since the age of 14), her ambition is to be a doctor. I always knew she will make it one day! I remembered those days when we were in the same class, 2Jade. 3 of us - Julie, Erwan and I. Jules the brainy, Erwan the romantic novel'holic' and me the noisiest.

Jules suggested Babylon Beach Blanket as the place to meet. I've heard about the place but never stepped in. It is just beside SS (Slippery Senoritas). I fell in love with the place immediately! It has beds!!!!!! It's just like The Balcony @ Orchard Rd., Singapore. We ordered a jug of beer and Jules started telling Sella and myself about funny stories that she had encountered. Ohhh.. how I wish Erwan was there too.. She's currently at KL, in the process of becoming a school teacher.

After some time, as usual, Sella will feel restless if she's not dancing when drinking. Moreover, her gang is in SS. Gulped our beer and I dragged myself reluctantly to SS. It was so jam-packed and we were literally rubbing shoulders with everybody while walking towards the dance floor. After dancing for 2 to 3 songs we decided to call it a day but we promise to meet again on Monday for a potluck party!!!!

Oh.. I'm so tired...*yawning & stretching*. Tomorrow, I'll blog about the house party that we had yesterday. Signing off..meow..

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Happy Birthday, Uncle Siva!

Last Sunday was Father's birthday. I made Cheese Cupcakes for him. It didn't turn out like the one I saw on the net but the taste is... D I V I N E.. What do you expect? It's Cheese! Lol. After having the cupcakes as appetizer, we adjourned to the RIBS Restaurant. Their pork ribs is absolutely finger licking good! Father, Mother, Aunty Leong and myself ordered the Mini Mix Grill. Amma took Salmon and Ribs while Appu Boy had Seabass and Salmon. Since Mother is a small eater, she gave the ribs and lamb to Father and the prawn to Appu. End up, she only ate a small piece of salmon... Kwang kwang kwang.... No wonder she's so small in size! I wish I can be like her but I can't resist the temptation! *big fat sigh* I finished my meal!! *burp* I'm not gonna cook any meat this week!

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Look who's cooking???

Sella? Cooking?? Yes!! She's actually helping out in a carnival at Little India, Penang.. I supposed to be there as well but pulled out due to... well, no reason actually.. *giggles*

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Laksa Lemak

Made Thai Prawn Laksa for lunch today. It took me 2 hours.. From peeling the prawns and shallots to boiling the broth and finally, cleaning the pots and pans. The verdict - Yummilicious!!!

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Burger Queen

Have I ever mention that one of my favourite food is the Ramly Burger. You know.. the burger that they sell in a small stall by the roadside... Since it's not healthy, Appu always discourages me from buying it. I asked him can I do it myself? Surprisingly, he allowed me to get the chicken patty. Apa lagi, I seized the opportunity to get a bag of 650gm chicken patty.

Immediately after reaching home, I thawed the patty and started cooking my own version of Ramly Burger.. I try to make not as unhealthy as possible.. I used brown bread instead of the normal bun. I stuffed lotsa vegetables and I used Snow spread instead of oil to fry the burger.

It tasted similiar like the one we get by the roadside but it only costed about RM1.00 each. Out there, the price can go up as high as Rm3.50. Gosh! Ridiculous isn't it? I think I should start thinking about setting up a burger stall. *giggles*

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Let's celebrate!

Appu Boy got promoted!!!! Congratulations, dear!! You deserve it! So, as a present I made Pandan Muffin (with the left over pandan leaves that I had from making nasi lemak yesterday)

The original plan was to make macaroons but I screwed it up.. It turn out to be a disaster.. but it didn't stop me from baking another different thing. I would not post the picture of the macaroons that I've made coz it will be a disgrace. It was in really bad shape.. *big fat sigh*.


The pandan muffins were not perfect either. I put to much of the batter in the muffin cup and the verdict : it oozed out of the cup... *shrugging*. Anyway, I can't taste the muffins today as it contain eggs. It's Thursday. Vegetarian day... Let you'll know tomorrow.

Well, I'm quite depressed on what happen to my macaroons... Arghhhh!!! Feeling hungry now.. No! I'm not gonna touch the muffins (though I'm so tempted). I think I'll eat my left over mee hoon I made for lunch. Til then, meow....

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For the first time...

I made rasam for the first time today. I think it's not too bad. *wink*wink. Then I try to replicate Mother's Sura Puttu (Fish Puttu). The colour turned a bit reddish from the normal yellow. Kwang kwang kwang... Anyway, it tasted nice but Mother's still the best.. Duhh... Hehe... Lunch wouldn't be complete without a vegetable dish. I made Indian style pumpkin. I just created the name of the dish. Lol. My aunt used to make it when I used lived with her in my teen age. It's one of my favourite vegetarian dish. Actually, I don't have the recipe. I made it up from my experience of watching her cooking. Does is sound right? - 'experience of watching'. The taste wasn't so bad but still doesn't taste like what I used to eat. I think I will call her later to get the recipe.

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Diwali mood!!

Since Diwali around the corner, I helped Amma to make Muruku on Sunday. It's a 'must have' for us every year. But, before leaving to my mother's place I made poached egg for breakfast.. Although I don't eat it but I enjoy making it.I didn't know it was so easy to make one. Just put the egg in a pot of boiling water.It goes very well with toasted bread. We ate it with bruschetta.

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Oktoberfest 2007

Last Saturday, Appu, his friends (Logen and Yathes) and I went for Oktoberfest at Malaysia-German Society Compound.

The activities includes beer drinking competition, group dancing, lucky draw etc. It was a lucky day for Logen as he won the second prize which is a gold ring with moonstone!


(from wikipedia)
The Oktoberfest is a 16 day festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany during late September and early October. It is one of the most famous events in the city and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year.
The event traditionally takes place during the 16 days up to and including the first Sunday in October. In 1990, the schedule was modified in response to German reunification so that if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or 2nd, then the festival will go on until October 3rd (German Unity Day). Thus, the festival is now 17 days when the 1st Sunday is October 2nd and 18 days when it is October 1st. The festival is held on an area named the Theresienwiese (Field [or meadow] of Therese), often called "d’ Wiesn" for short. Beer plays a central role in the fair, with every festival beginning with a keg of beer tapped by the Mayor of Munich who declares "O'zapft is!" (Bavarian: "It’s tapped!"). A special Oktoberfest beer is brewed for the occasion, which is slightly darker and stronger, in both taste and alcohol. It is served in a one-liter-tankard called Maß. The first mass is served to the Bavarian Prime Minister. Only local Munich breweries are allowed to serve this beer in a Bierzelt, a beer tent which is large enough for thousands.
Visitors also consume large quantities of food, most of it traditional hearty fare such as sausage, hendl (chicken), käsespätzle (cheese noodles), and sauerkraut, along with such Bavarian delicacies as roast ox tails.

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A very looooong day!

The day started with me going to Tmn Tun Sardon Market with Sella. She wanted to get some beef and chicken feet for Shebby (her pet dog) and I needed pandan leaves, spring onions and coriander leaves. It was my first time there. It is a very small market but you can get most of the meat and vegetables there.

When I was browsing the net last night, I came across a shop in Penang selling baking supplies.. I got so excited about it.. It's located at Carnavon St. I brought Sella along as I do not know the area. After scouting the Komtar area, we found the shop. I bought a lot of stuff and spent about 100bucks. Phew! but it's worth the money..

After sending Sella home, I started to bake cookies for Diwali. Mother gave a cookie press. So I decided to put it to use. First, I made butter cookies but I didn't turn out well. A bit hard..

From the picture you can see that Sella is my assistant in the kitchen.. She's my unpaid 'Maid'. Lol! Then, I continued baking Appu's favourite, Chocolate Chip Cookies. At least these cookies turned out yummy! Ahh..*relieve sigh*. I was quite depressed as my first cookies were hard!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 - 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used about 1 1/2 cup)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree Celsius
2. Using mixer, beat cream sugars, butter, shortening, oil, egg, milk and vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients, nuts and chocolate chips.
4 .Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 8-12 minutes. (Cookies are light in color when done.)

I made two large cookies with the last piece of dough. It was a reward for Appu as he cooked us dinner.. It was 'Tau-yu Bak' (Soy Sauce Pork). I was craving for it for so long and I finally got it! It was his first time cooking it but it tastes absolutely divine!!!! *drooling*. Thanks, dear!

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Comments...

Hey people.. I realised that some of you would like to leave comments but you are unable to do it. Its just because you are not a blogspot member. I've change the settings so Now Everyone Can Leave a Comment... (sounds like a familiar tagline right!!)

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Porky Pork

Before I retire to bed yesterday, I browsed my recipe books. I decided to do something Thai as I never tried that style before. Oops, I've tried making Tom Yum soup but it turn out to be more like hot and sour soup..*sigh*.... Anyway, I successfully made Spicy Minced Pork for dinner today.

Since I'm too lazy to type out the ingredients, I took a picture of it. Am I genius or what?! Haha..

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok.

2. Add garlic, ginger and onions. Stir-fry for 2 mins.

3. Throw in the minced pork and fry until golden brown.

4. Add bell-pepper and chillis (red and green) and stir-in fish sauce, soy sauce and thai green-curry paste (you can also use the red-curry paste) in high heat.

5. Add the chopped tomatoes and bean-sprouts and fry for another 3-4 mins.

6. Season to taste.

7. Serve in a lettuce leaves.

I made a simple soup as well.. Salted fish, chicken and tofu soup.. First, marinate chicken cubes with salt, pepper and corn flour for at least 20mins. Then, boil 2 litre water. Add the washed and chopped salted fish, chicken cubes and ginger slices to the boiling water. Season with, salt, sugar and sesame oil and bring to boil again. Once boiling, turn to low and let it simmer for 15mins. Finally, add bean curd cubes and heat through. Serve hot with chopped spring onions.

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Roti Jala for Dinner

It was my first time making it... My first try turn out to be like the pic below...

LOL!!! The outcome: burned roti jala. But after a few experiements and Appu's help... it turned out well... It goes well with chicken curry..

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 egg

1 cup coconut cream

1 cup milk

1 cup plain flour (sifted)

1 tbsp tumeric powder

1 tsp salt

Method

1. Beat the ingredients well and heat a non-stick pan.

2. Put a ladle full batter into roti jala cup and move it in a circular motion over pan so that pancake will have a lacy pattern.

3. Cook until set and fold it into triangles and serve.

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Princess in town

Last Friday, Princess Thini was back in town.. Our normal routine when she's back in town is... makan the Asam Laksa @ Joo Hooi Cafe, Penang Rd. They serve the yummiest laksa.

At night, we went to our usual party place, SS. It was so packed since it was eve of Hari Raya. Here are some snippets...

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'Lau-sai'

I got diarrhea since yesterday. Actually 3 of us - including Mother and Appu. Not sure what we really ate but we whacked all the Raya goodies.

This morning, the 3 of us went to Nagama (Snake Goddess) Temple at Silibin. Appu found a green-colored snake at our Penang house balcony. So, my father in-law said that we should go to Nagama Temple to pray. Later, we went to Taoist Temple - Tow Boo Keong. It was my first time stepping into a Taoist temple. Since it was a Saturday and a special week as the Taoist celebrating 9 Emperors God festival, the temple was crowded and smoky (due to the joss-stick smoke). The smoke was like smoking for a year compressed in one day! Lol! We bought the joss-sticks and lotus paste buns as an offerings to the Gods. After praying, we went to the food court which is just behind the temple. You can get all the vegetarian food there - mee hoon, rice with dishes, desserts, popiah and other 'kuih-muih'. Of course I bought back food for myself. My fav - fried mee hoon.

Today's lunch was Sliced Ginger Fish, Blanched Watercress, Fried Pomfret with Black Pepper Sauce and Aunty Sham's famous Kerabu Mee Hoon (Sorry Jacquie and Joyce... I've eaten your portion..). I always look forward to Mother's food. It's always something new and the great part is it adds to my recipe collection. Dinner was something simple but I must say the simple things are the BEST! It was Fried Sardines, Blanched Okra, Sambal Belacan and 'Rasum'. Are you drooling? I am.. actually...

Some updates on the wedding... Mother has just paid the deposit for Syuen Hotel. I only need to confirm on the backdrop which I need Jacquie's help and we'll confirm on the wedding cards by tomorrow. So far, the Ipoh dinner is under control. Left with getting costumes for Appu and Mother.

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Simple Iced Chocolate Cake

Serves 12
Prep 15mins
Cooking 40mins

Ingredients
60g low-fat spread (I used Farmcows Butter)
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Icing
1 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
1-2 tbsp boiling water
1/4 tsp coffee powder

Method
1. Preheat the oven to moderate, 180 deg. Lightly spray a deep 20cm round cake pan with oil/ butter or line base with baking paper.
2. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat spread (butter) and sugar until smooth and creamy. add egg, beating well.
3. Sift flour and cocoa together. Fold into creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
4. Combine water and bicarbonate of soda. Lightly fold into mixture. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and dry. Cool in pan for 5 mins. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
6. ICING. In a bowl, sift icing sugar and cocoa together. Ina jug, combine water and coffee. Blend into icing mixture until smooth. Spread over cold cake.

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Great place to dine - Audees

I actually managed to bake a chocolate cake for Appu Boy's Birthday. The cake was from a recipe book (more like a magazine) titled Everyday Food by Woman' s Day which I bought in Melbourne. The magazine is all about "Eat more, weigh less". The recipe is coming up in the next posting.

We celebrated Appu Boy's birthday at a restaurant called Audees. Just the two of us. It's a jazz and wine restaurant which serve fusion food - Italian and Western dish with a twist of Asian flavour. I love the ambiance. It's cozy but classy. The service... I would say FIRST CLASS!

As I placed the cake on the table, the waiter offered to store the cake in the chiller so that we can indulge the cake as dessert later. This is what I call initiative, which we rarely get in Malaysia's service industry. I've ordered The Ostrich - Mushroom cream pasta with Ostrich sausages and Appu ordered The Black Cod (he LOVES fish!) for main course. We've also ordered a starter and clam chowder. I don't have any picture of it because we whacked the starter and soup immediately when it arrived at the table. Lol. Oh ya! I brought the camera but only to realise that I left the memory card in my laptop!!!! Arghhh!!!! So I manage to take a few snaps with my Motorola E1030...

After the main course, the waiter asked whether we were keen on their dessert. It seems the dessert there such as Cream Amurula Souffle and Green Tea Ice Cream Cake are famous. Unfortunately, I have to give a pass considering that I've brought my homemade cake. Since I'm a amateur in baking, so the cake was a plain choc cake. The waiter asked whether we want it to be decorated. Of course, I do!!!! My heavens!! They really went the extra mile to make the day so memorable for us.

After about 15 minutes, the lights went off. The waiter together with Mr. Balan (Chef de cuisine) walked toward our table with the decorated cake. There's a candle as well!!!. Although it was Appu's birthday but I was the one who's getting so emotional. They sang Happy Birthday song and waited for Appu to blow the candle. It was a memorable night indeed! The crew offered to cut the cake and we offered them some. It was first choc cake and I'm proud to say it turned out well.. Yummy!!

Audees made our night so complete!!! The food is great and the service is EXCELLENT!!!! They open daily for lunch and dinner. Contact no. 604 - 229 8022. Double thumbs up for this place!

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Happy Birthday, Darling!!!

Today is Appu Boy's birthday but the feast started yesterday. First, I made him a pyramid full of chocolates , strawberries, marshmallows, grapes and roses as decoration. It was a surprise..

After he left to work, I rushed to market to get the roses and then I dashed to Jusco. After parking my car, then I realised it was 9.30am. Jusco opens at 10.30am. I felt so stupid. After paying the parking ticket, I rushed to Tesco to get strawberries and chocolates. Then, I went back home to get started on my project. It was quite messy as I ran out of time. I plan to give before he comes home for lunch. At 11.00am, I called his friend, Sharen, to do me a favour. I asked her to come out of the office to get the gift from me and pass it to Appu Boy. He got a shock to receive it from Sharen. Thanks for you help, babes! Sharen smsed me saying that he is showing the gift to everybody! As usual, he is being 'perasan' case!

After lunch, I did chocolate cupcakes!! It didn't go too well because the surface is too hard but the inner texture is great. To make it look good, Sella and I decorated it... It looks so lovely! I thought baking a cake today but since the weather is so gloomy, I'm feeling too lazy to get off from my laptop.

I made a reservation at a cozy restaurant in Pulau Tikus to have a quiet birthday dinner with him. Before that, we'll be heading to Ganesha Temple at Waterfall Road to seek blessing on his birthday.

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Prologue

Before I start writing the blog, I would like to write something about myself. I'm from a mix parentage - Indian (Dad) and Siamese (Mum). I'm the eldest in the family. My lovely mother is working in a Kindergarten to pass her time.. Amma has been living in Penang for more than 30 years. She's from Perlis originally. My energetic sis, Thini, is now in Singapore working with SIA and my quiet and rebellious brother, Vinod, is doing his Diploma in TAR College. Finally, I got registered to an exquisite man, Appu, last June. He was the reason why I moved to Penang. Leaving behind a great lifestyle and good $ in Singapore!! Nevertheless, I have no regrets!!! I love what I'm doing now. My latest passion is cooking and baking! I never thought that I'll enjoy cooking but look at me now! I'm cooking almost everyday and baking every other day! I surprised myself actually!

Everybody kept asking if I ever get bored staying at home for not working. Hey people... I'm not bored at all. I keep myself occupied. I cook meal twice a day and bake in the afternoons. Some of the time I'll catch up with movies or read books or magazines. I do also go out with my best buddy, Sella. But what I love most is shopping with my husband. Stop imagining! I'm not that lucky to get husband who loves to do shopping for clothes, shoes, bags and etc. Mine is groceries shopping.. He loves the morning market!

OK.. There's actually a lot more but I think I better stop writing more about it. I have 2 other blogs besides this..
http://debarracuda.blogspot.com/
http://www.xanga.com/siamesecatz
They are more about my life in Singapore and my pictures taken while I was still flying with SIA. Enjoy....

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