happy feet

don't you just loveeee the smell of the kitchen filled with freshly baked goodies?

i know i do ;))

i'm leaving you guys with a photo of the homemade choc chip cookies i made on the new year's eve. the recipe is now puuuurfect !

there you go, my first post of the year!

cookie monster

i woke up this morning feeling hungry. and oddly, i was craving for cookies. white chocolate cookies to be exact!

unfortunately baking cookies are too time consuming and tedious :S you need to spoon neat drops of cookie dough on the baking tray and wait for those little lumps to turn into those crunchy, crumbling cookies that sekali ngaaaap, dah habis!

doesn't sound cost-effective for me, who should be spending more time revising.{i've entered checkpoint#22 days to final bds exams.}

na'aaah!!!! *finger moves to the left-right stating a big NO-NO*

so guess what i did to satisfy my cookies craving?

i turned the recipe for a batch of 24 cookies into... 10 large, gigantic cookies! *giggle*oklah it wasn't that THAT gigantic- it was just as big as my palm. crunchy around the edges, slightly soft in the middle. nom nom nom.

**6/10 are safely stored in my tummy already!yesssss, i kept them all for ME ME ME!**

who says we can't have cookies for breakfast?
...i'll have whatever the stress-appetitezilla feels like having! *picking on the cookies crumbles on the shirt*

do you have time to cook?

just by looking at my food-pornography posts, i bet some of you'd think I'd have the whole time in the universe to indulge myself- be it in expensive restaurant, cute little cafe or even a nice home-cooked meal with dessert.

truth is, being a final year dental student, i haven't got much time to spare.
i'm pulling my hair out, so scared that i've reached the checkpoint#30 days to final bds!

>__<"
andddddd i can't believe i still have time for dessert, with all these stress from dental school! i'll try to curi-curi masa, find some ways to bake. yessss..... i am addicted to the kitchen like that!*giggle*

just like how i ended up baking a loaf of buttermilk pound cake.
basically the buttermilk has been hiding there, in my fridge, since 2 weeks ago maybe. on the expiry date itself i finally noted it and ahhhhhhhhh, membazir itu amalan syaitan kannnnnn. *alasan, i know!*

grabbed my current obsession- the hummingbird bakery cookbook- and tadaaaaaaaa!

{not really happy with the crust; didn't turn up as nice as what it looked like it the book. boohoo}

it's nice to finally have time to bake a cake. and what's better is that after one night out of the oven, there were only 2 pieces left! *big smile*

oh i reduced the sugar by half (the recipe stated 330g- that's freaking a lot!!!!!). thus it wasn't sweet...just nice for jr-dentists yang concerned about their gigi. my healthy version ohkay; although missyH wouldn't agree with me on that- after looking at the amount of butter, that is! *laughs*

four rounds birthday celebration

...was what f had as her last birthday celebration in london!

#first round#
midnight "surprise" celebration with the F.A.C.E. cupcakes.

#second round#
shopping for her first designer handbag at designer sale UK.
#third round#
luxury chocolate afternoon-tea at flemings hotel, mayfair. the interior design of the hotel is super niceeeee :)) well, we did pay quite a lot (gbp26 pp) just to sit down, "catching up" in a posh-er place, getting sugar-rush after that much amount of chocolate being consumed with excessive number of pots of tea! if only we play-dress up and have some designer handbags to "complete" us! *sigh* a girl can only dream!
#fourth round#
all-you-can-eat Asakusa; a japanese restaurant near Camden. oklah, it's not a buffet restaurant but the pricing is so damn cheap that you can literally order as much as you can. and yet with only minimal damage to your pocket. *grin* i loikeeeeeeeee! the sushi is affordable AND here come the best part; it's delicious! it tasted....fresh! yes, we were that greedy that we literally ordered everything on the menu- takoyaki, omelet, 4 types of sushi, udon AND soba, black sesame and matcha ice cream! *rubbing tummy*
damage done? only GBP8 per person. sweet.



H.A.P.P.Y.B.I.R.T.H.D.A.Y. again, missyF!

K-drama F.A.C.E. cupcakes

come to think about it, i was never brave enough with fondant. it was more of the little,tiny decorations; like the roses for sweet D, little honeyBee, graduation mortar board for the leaving finalists, gadgets for missybloggerH {which was such a failure!!!!!} and E's favourite pet; the dog.

but this time i thought, hey let's be more adventurous and have a really good play and toying around with the fondant! afterall it's the quarter-century birthday of a special friend... missyF!

...who is a die-heart fan of korean dramas. recently missyF was sooooo obsessed about "You're beautiful". she even bought the special pack of that series- with dvd, posters +signatures, calender etc in it!!!

the first thing that popped into my mind was suyin's creative f.a.c.e. cupcakes!

thus, i started the task with some sketch of the characters i'm supposed to "sculpt" with the fondant. i made them looked like this:

and in the end, my cupcakes turned out like this:

not exactly 100% the same with the original, not perfect and kinda messy! the hardest part would definitely be THE HAIR!!!! susah giler babs- that's why the end bits were jagged, not smooth. i so need the proper fondant tools- note to self.*sigh* i am being too hard on myself, aren't i?

BUT i felt relief as i got some "ooooohhhh" and "aaaahhhhh" from those who gathered around for the midnight celebration..... and honestly, i was kinda flattered. *blushed* thanks peeps for the support!

*i think lah* even the birthday girl was excited when she saw her favourite characters being made into her birthday cupcakes. she didn't have the heart to eat them {well, we all didn't! my 3 hours-effort should stay longer than 3-seconds gobbling down the cupcakes....lol} she's even considering tearing them apart and keep the fondant part until.... until she had to throw them away i.e. moving out of floyer after graduation! *shook head*

eat la wei the cupcakes pleaseeee?


the saturday was then fully booked for this little girl's birthday celebrations (notice the plural S?). i shall update that in my next post, as there was too much food involved in it. *wink*

SaturdaySpecial: Meatballs

....and that's how it looked like hot from the pan. and the cheese burst inside your mouth as you pooped it in! nyummmmm!

first debut!

i have this habit of checking the blackberry before i get up from bed every morning- new emails, bbm, twitter updates, fb stuff, everything lah! an attempt for an extra few minutes or so on the bed *giggle*

normally i don't get much interesting stuff except for mama bugging me about the summer holiday plan or neighbourH's fb msgS on random stuff or the wake-up bbm from mr.bofwen.

but today is not like any other day.

i squeaked when i saw the email from the editorial@tastespotting. jumped out of the bed and quickly switched on the laptop. ooooohlalaaa i can't believe it! they've published my white chocolate and strawberry muffin *fell off the chair*

(sorry for the bad quality. i didn't know how to do the screen snapshot! lol)

you might think it's a no biggie since there's so many food-pornography being published in tastespotting. and i bet some writers have had theirs published sooooo many times already! but it's my first!!!!! and isn't it normal to be utterly excited on anything that's "the first"? well i think so *wink* weeeeeeeeeeee!

my playground

what does holiday means to me....

# read good story book.
when i write reading as my hobby, i really mean it ohkay. feed me with a book, i'll be totally almost disconnected from the real world. book has its own way to inspire and motivate me- be it about life in general, great love, and more about life.
the latest read: the time traveler's wife. in the beginning, i was abit skeptical about it. because ahmagad, it was super thick and from one page to another it was just about the daily life of this man who has this genetic disorder that makes him travels through time unpredictably. *yawn* macam buhsan! but after a while, i find it rather sweet. a love story, a different one. it's like a metaphor for a long-distance relationship... the disappointment, the struggle of being in one.
# indulge in junk food!
i loveeeeeee them, but i'll love them more if they don't upset the skin!
#photography time.
i love snapping randomly but most of all i enjoy looking back at the pictures. don't you love random candid snapshots? unfortunately i don't own high-end dslr camera but that doesn't mean my pics will end up being lousy, no? in the end of the day it is not what you have but it is what you do with what you have. plus in photography, it's all about the creativity honey.....
# hanging out in my sacred kitchen; my favourite spot in my accommodation after my bedroom, that is. free time means more experimenting time in the kitchen. and while i was away for 3 days, i started to miss the oven. luckily there was cooking mama2, my loyal companion throughout the trip to lepaskan rindu *laughs*
....thus few hours after reaching london, off i went to visit sainsburys and bought the ingredients to whip down the white chocolate-strawberry muffin based on the recipe datinI gave me. i likeeeeeeeee *thumbs up*

lets face it, i am not much of a happening, hoohaa-hoohaa person. unlike others, i am more of a reserved person that find comfort in doing things on my own. call me boring but snap whaaaaaaaaaaatttt?

satisfy my hunger

....for beef!

thanks to that someone who walked all the way to shoreditch for nearly 40 mins and got me us the korean chili paste {Go chu jang}!!!! *jumps excitedly*

i'm not too sure what's in it but korean dish needs this to make it korean! you don't quite hit it if you use our malaysian dried chili. not too sure why though *shrug* anybody that can read Korean and rajin enough to help translate it for me? :))

randomly i was badly craving for red meat! thus the korean spiced beef [bul-gol-gi] was picked as my experiment product for our cook-in night: korean theme. after googling for the recipe, i've noted that all of them used sliced asian pear in the marinate. interesting, no?

mine.... i added oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce cap kipas udang (yes! malaysia mari!hihihi), sesame oil, grated pear with its juice, honey, blackpepper, toasted white sesame seeds, onion, garlic powder, salt and sugar. ohhhhh not to forget, the special korean chili paste ohkay. i marinate the beef in the sauce overnight and then grill it for about 30 minutes.alhamdulillah, they turn out delicious! {take note that it is the writer's personal opinion- never had the chance to try the authentic ones from the korean restaurant. thus this is the best that can get.}*thumbs up*

we wrapped some with lettuce and ate the rest with rice.that has definitely calmed my craving!


**special thanks to missyH for the yummilicious spicy rice cakes, missyF for the warm seafood kimchi soup and missyY for the makes-me-think-of-nyonya-kuih-kasui sticky cake.

+++edited+++
got alcohol in the Go chu jang!!!!!!

messy matcha

i showed up with no cake

almost! as i was swamped with the never-ending labworks for the past two weeks. got no time to think and plan on what to bake.

i was incredibly exhausted having to spent all of my free time in the "so-called-second-home"... 2 patients works now have been settled! oh boy i'm so glad *big smile* my poor fingers hurt so much because i'm allergic to some of the materials being used. excessive dryness which leads to numerous cuts on the skin.

anyway, i feel baaaaad if i bake nothing for the birthday girl. luckily i got the au naturale baker aura *syiok-sendiri-punya-giggle* thus i didn't turn up empty-handed on that day!

i baked 10 matcha muffin-like cupcakes. i kept it simple where no frosting were added to make those tiny cakes prettier- she doesn't like sweet stuff or those whipped cream or cream cheese. these are definitely a saviour for those emergency days where you want things to be done quickly! although we all agreed that the matcha-taste was totally undetectable...i should have used the powder instead, no?

1 cup plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp cream of tartar
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (can be reduced)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp green tea leaves ( i don't have any matcha powder!)
1 teabag of green tea

soak the teabag into the milk for few hours beforehand and warm them up when you are about to start mixing everything else- then put it aside and cool it. whisk the eggs and sugar. in another bowl, mix the sifted flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, green tea leaves and salt until well combined. add the flour mixture to the eggs mixture and mix quickly. add the milk slowly and mix well. pour into the muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes at 180degree celcius. i left it in the oven for five minute to let the post-heat browned the top surface :)

nothing extravaganza this time, i know. sorry missyY! we didn't even go far for her birthday dinner. being obsessed with japanese cuisine, we ended up at http://www.andazdining.com/miyako/miyako.asp. it is a small restaurant just outside the liverpool street station. i had the tempura udon but unfortunately it wasn't that oishii [delicious] to shout about. just ok-ok lah.
we'll make it up when we have the priscilla outing, ok? pwomiseeeeeee!

cookies 'n' creme ice cream

oreo has always been my favourite cookies since long time- who doesn't, right?when i'm lazy, i'll either eat it plain or dung it into a glass of milk. when i feel like whipping up a batch of sinful dessert in the mixing bowl, oreo-cheese (crumble) pie or oreo cheesecake would definitely be on top of my list. they can never go wrong, i'm pretty sure of that! *cheeky smile*

and then recently, i've decided to challenge myself!

does a bowl of homemade cookies 'n' creme ice cream sounds good enough to you? well it sure does to me. and missyF. and missyH. *laugh*

#1 crush the oreo cookies to small pieces

#2 whipped the 300ml fresh cream until you reach the soft peak

#3 add 100ml of condense milk and 1 tsp vanilla essence to the whipped cream

#4 add the crushed oreo into the cream mixture

#5 freeze it for at least 12 hours [...the hardest part of this kitchen experiment! penantian itu satu penyeksaan ok.]
***make sure you mix them from time to time for the first 2 hours; so that the cookies won't just sunk straight to the bottom. u want it to be everywhereeeeee, equally the same.

#6 once your waiting time is up (yeay!), pick the nicest bowl (which in my case, i used the wine glass), scoop the ice cream and quickly take a nice shot of it before you get to enjoy the first bite!

the verdict:
yummy but sinful. not 100% taste like ice cream oneeeeeee. creamy-ish.

two words- GILER MENGGEMUKKAN!!!!

(thus i shall continue and hunt for a less sinful homemade ice cream recipe. anybody wants to recommend anything, feel free to do so. thanks in advance!)

Kitchen adventure: Scottish Mussels

i'm a sucker for seafood (BIG TIME!!!)-apart from shellfish like oyster, mussels, lala, kerang ... just because i'm sort of allergic to them. i get itchiness and rashes all over the body few minutes after it started to travel from the mouth down to the digestion track.

but that's not a good excuse to stop me from experimenting them in the kitchen, no? *wink*yesterday we bought 1kg of scottish mussels for GBP3.49 and *cough* 100g of king prawn. yeahhh the guy was like, "errr you'll get about 8 prawns for that. is that ok?" *laugh*

so for those of you being the first-timer, like me, in mussels management here's what you need to do during the preparation.

Step 1: Check to see if the mussels or clams are fresh by tapping them against your counter. If they don't close, they should be discarded. And throw away those with broken shells.
Step 2: Scrub the shell with a brush in cold water. Remove any kekotoran lah!
Step 3: There's this thing hanging on the mussels- the beard- that needs to be removed right before cooking by pulling it from the tip of the mussel towards the hinge and cut it off with a knife. Removing it earlier will kill the mussels and remember, they quickly become toxic after dying.

then can start cooking! :)) and once they are cooked, discard those that haven't open.
after we've licin-ed kan the plate, it's time to store the another half-kg mussels for the next cooking session. and ahhhhh, silly me, i forgot to do a little bit of research about that. can it be kept in the freezer? or should it be kept in a bowl of cold water and put it in the fridge instead?

aigoooooooo clueless please!
with hesitation, i stored it in the freezer. BIG MISTAKE, i know. because i've just read today that you aren't suppose to freeze mussels with its shells. only freeze cooked mussels. *slapped forehead*

anybody knows if it is still safe to cook with the frozen uncooked mussels?

sweet potato

i've made mee udang for saturday's dinner and i used the sweet potato to thicken the gravy. but because it was so huge, we just had to leave the extra 3/4 cup of mashed sweet potato behind.

hmmm bingka keledek sounds nice but naaaaah, got santan in it. my health-freak flatmates wouldn't enjoy that. sweet potato cake/muffin? too plain when there's nothing else in it, but too much hassle with all the extra bits needed to make it savoury-ish [i.e. mince meat maybe? but malasnyaaa mau keluar and go to the butcher]

*carigali things i've got in the cupboard*

in the end, i've made these lovely cookies!

well more like a cluster combination of mashed potato, oat, desiccated coconut, raisins, brown sugar (you don't need a lot of it because the raisins already manis on its own!) and vegetable oil.

it may seems weird; i mean hellloooo sweet potato cookies? *laugh* but trust me, you wouldn't know it's there unless i tell you so. my vegetarian flatmate LOVES it!

AND- it is a good alternative for a healthy snack. that's why F can't stop grabbing more of it*wink*

date and dancing

among 2 of the things that kept me occupied over the weekend.

no silly, i didn't cheat on mr.bofwen and got myself swept in some other guy's arms! of course not! *shook head*

i was talking about glee :)) i was literally so glued to it- their dancing steps were awesome with capital A.

i know, i'm so ketinggalan liddat! *cheeky grin*

oh and the date? that's chocolate-date cake i'm talking about! i had extra "date" hibernating in the fridge- brought it from malaysia last september. fret not, expiry date 2011 ok.

the cake was moist and you can just feel a tinge of sweetness thanks to the date! something that's really "light" and can easily be eaten without getting muak. and super easy, i tell you.

1 bowl of pitted date (soak in water to make it soft)
1 cup boiling water
11 tbsp butter
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar (lightly packed! so not really 1/4 la...)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 row dark chocolate

Beat butter and both sugars in an electric mixer till pale and fluffy; add in eggs one at a time; beating well after each addition. add the vanilla extract and mix well.

you then sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda over the butter mixture and combine well with the spatula.

melt the dark chocolate and add it to the date you've soaked just now. put it in the blender/food processor and add 1 cup of water before you blend it well to get the puree.

add date puree to the mixture in the bowl and pour into the baking tray. bake it in preheated oven 180degree celcius for about 45 minutes. [ohkay i'm not too sure of the time coz i left it in the oven to let the post-heat settle down the wobbly middle bit].

and tadaaaaaa~


they said the cake stays moist up to 3 days. too bad, it never lasts that long! all gone into the tummy already*wink*