HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.....

I am 49 years young today. What an age!

My day started with a surprise.....I lost my purse during marketing. Arghhhh. I made a police report when I couldn't locate my purse the second time I went to check.

Went home and as I was getting prepared to go to the bank to replace my lost card, a good samaritan came knocking with my purse!

She found it and got my address from my IC, thank you so much 'yati'. 

The other events:

Received birthday wishes from my friends, thank you all and I like this one message :

"Good friends are like stars, you don't always see them but you know they are there..."

Present from 4 of my  'che kiah' friends:

Body Shop White Musk set

Present from Mr Abang Troy: 

I've been keeping this (nak pecah kat perut dah!) as he has bought this new 'toy-on-the-block' a month ago. Thank you dear. 

Note: we don't always celebrate birthdays with gifts all the time, so this is special

a brand new Bernina QE440

.....and with that I've managed to do some of this...

my sarung cushion....

a long purse with short handle & many pockets

bigger sized coin purse, jangan adjust mata...mmg blurr

Latest; this half done bag

So that's about it, no cakes, no candles. Tomorrow I'm on another event which I'm going to share in two days time, insyallah....

Cappucino Cheesecake

Cappuccino Cheesecake

source: Cheesecake Seduction by Catherine Lau

Filling:

250 gm cream cheese

120 gm icing sugar

200ml whipping cream

3 eggs ( separate yolk & white )

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp + 2 tsp cornflour - sifted

2 Tbsp + 2 tsp plain flour - sifted

1/4 tsp cream of tartar or 1 tsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp instant coffee powder (mix with 2 tsp hot water)

1 Tbsp cocoa powder (mixed with 1 Tbsp hot water)

Base:

125 gm plain sponge mix

3 eggs

1 Tbsp instant coffee powder (mix with 2 tsp hot water)

30 ml milk

50 gm melted butter.

Method:

- Beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in icing sugar followed by whipped cream, egg yolk, vanilla, flour. Beat until soft/creamy. Set aside. Prepare base.

- Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease 23 cm round false-bottom cake pan.

- Whisk sponge mix, eggs, coffee mixture and milk until mixture is thick & glossy. Fold in melted butter. Pour mixture into cake pan & bake ~ 15 minutes.

- Whisk egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar (or lemon juice) and whisk until firm. Fold into cheese mixture. Transfer 250 gm of the mixture into another bowl. Stir in coffee/cocoa mixture to the remaining cheese mixture.

- When base is done, remove from oven. Adjust oven temperature to 160 deg.

- Spread the coffee cheese mixture onto the base (sponge cake). Bake for 30 minutes or until filling is set but slightly soft in the center. BAKE in water bath.

- When filling is set, remove from oven & spread the plain cheese filling onto the coffee cheese mixture. Bake a further 30 minutes or until set.

- When done, remove cake pan from oven, stand for 10 minutes & then transfer cake o wire rack to cool completely. (What I did: I leave cake in the oven (oven off) with door closed for 15 minutes. Then I take out from oven and let it cool completely in the cake pan.)

- Sift cocoa powder onto cake. Serve immediately or chilled.

Sorry, cake not 'nicely groomed'. Observe the three layers:-base(sponge cake), the coffee cheese & the plain cheese layer.

I double the filling and  have it baked without the base (as in the two pictures above)

Quarantine quarantine quarantine!

Due to the H1N1 outbreak, UiTM campus was closed.  Adil was home last week, and will still be home till next weekend for the mid-semester holiday. 

AND so was my hubby, Mr troy16. It's just his workplace policy that said....'anyone in contact with......'.should stay away from office. The week was spent staying home...can you imagine that? 

Alamak tak boleh tahan dah...we were in the house far too long. Saturday morning, the funtastic four (Alif, Adil, Mr troy16 & myself) drove to another nowhere but nearby place. After breakfast in Telok Air Tawar we sampai to Kuala Muda....saw a man selling 'Buah Jentik' . Since my anak2 have never seen it, we bought to show them......

          

 You have to "jentik"(flick with your fingers) the skin to expose the sourish fruit

 Homestay @ the place where Tsunami (2004?) took place

@ Pulau Sayak...never seen a petai tree so low...

     Pantai @ Pulau Sayak. Saw many women went fishing...wow...                    

    Siput Gayam in season now......sold to 'middlemen' @RM2/kg..hardwork!                 

                                  Colourful view @ Pantai Merdeka

                                  @ Pantai Merdeka...looks like a cave...dare not look inside

 Steady boatman, transport from Pantai merdeka-Tanjung Dawai @RM3/head

              Mr Troy & Adil..trying to look cool on ~5 mins boat ride

                              Tanjung Dawai ("Cape Wire") jetty

Ice Age 3

Movie Day:

Early morning today started with 'dingdongs' in the kitchen - have to cook early for the mums as i have a movie date in the afternoon......with hubby & my sons Alif & Adil.

Today's dishes......Sambal Tumis Udang+Petai, Ikan goreng Kicap & Sayur Sawi gemuk with egg tofu

Movie was in Gurney Plaza (as we wanted to watch in 3D). At the entrance, we were given a pair of 3D spectacles with a warning "nanti lepas movie kena kasi balik ya, hilang kena bayar 250..." ok lah, no point keeping it anyway...apa nak tengok?  

Maybe many have seen it but to those who haven't, this movie is very entertaining. Go Peaches! 

Jom enjoy dinner

Broccoli Soup

1 medium broccoli- separated into smaller florets & well washed

1 large yellow onions- diced

50 gm butter

1/4 cup flour

700 ml water

1/2 chicken cube (optional)

salt, pepper to taste

Heat butter in a deep pan and fry onions till soft.

Add in water & let it boil.

Put broccoli florets slowly and stir to mix.

Mix flour with little water and add to the mixture.

Add chicken cube

Let it boil for a while, reduce fire and simmer for a further 15-20 mins.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Blend boiled broccoli until smooth.

You may add thick cream if you wish (i don't)

Serve warm with garlic bread.

My garlic bread:

Barguette, cut however you like.

Spread with garlic butter and bake @ 200 deg until done (~10-15 mins)

Let's makan

I tried this one and it turned out good. Sorry I did not 'groom' my chicken for photography..i'm just lazy but i can assure you this one is nice. You can eat it on its own (just like BBQing) or with rice. You can find other recipes here

Ayam Rica Rica

Source: Majalah Saji online

BAHAN-BAHAN:

1 ekor ayam muda (kisar kasar) 

10 tangkai cili merah (kisar kasar) 

10 tangkai cili hijau (kisar kasar) 

5 tangkai cili padi (kisar kasar) 

3 cm halia (kisar kasar)

3 batang serai (kisar kasar) 

3 biji tomato (kisar kasar) 

Minyak masak 

 CARA MENYEDIAKAN:

1. Panaskan minyak kemudian tumiskan bahan kisar sehingga naik bau lalu sejukkan.

2. Perapkan bahan yang telah masak itu dengan  ayam semalaman.

3. Keesokan harinya bakar ayam yang telah diperap di dalam ketuhar pada suhu 250⁰C selama 25 minit.

The English version:

1 chicken (cut however you like, I cut to 16 pcs)

10 red cili (*)

10 green cili (*)

5 bird's eye cili(*)

3 cm ginger (*)

3 lemon grass (*)

3 tomatoes(*)

enough cooking oil

- Blend all (*).

- Heat oil in a pan and fry blended stuffs until fragrant, leave to cool.

- Marinate chicken with the above and refrigerate overnight.

- Bake @ 250 deg C for 25 mins or until done.

Note: there is no mention about salt. I added salt & 2 teasp sugar to taste

Gloomy Saturday

If yesterday was FRYing day, today seemed gloomy. Mana tidaknya hujan dari tengah malam sampailah sekarang tak stop.

Gloomy gloomy pun alhamdulillah syukur, got hujan got panas.

Activity???

Morning - Prepared breakfast for the moms (mother & mother-in-law), today's menu - fried rice. Simple one with fried anchovy, bird's eye cili (cili padi), garlic, egg & black soy sauce and of course white rice.....coupled with a cup of nescafe..kalau tak sedap pun kira kenyang laa 

Then tried out Bengkang Tepung (Bengkang Gandum), that I got from maisya's kitchen late last night. It turned out well&tasted good, only the baking tin is a little bit big for the recipe so it was slightly thin- must use smaller tin next time (or double the recipe). Layan le gambar walau tak lawa cik bengkang tu. I'll try again some other time. Thanks Maisya.

Late morning - Was in front of my computer, emailing & googling. What made me stop was when my eyes felt like I have 'thread' inside it (any doctor here??) ;maybe it was a result of playing too much of this game!

Afternoon - After short rest, i started to look for my sewing remnants and within 2 hours, i got this- an unfinished, bigger version of coin-purse. To be continued... 

By then it was evening (orang tua2 kata tak boleh menjahit masa senja, nanti rabun....). Adil phoned to say he's coming home & asked me to fetch him at the ferry terminal. What used to be a 15 minutes ride from home to the ferry terminal took me almost 40 minutes, all because of the rain. Bla bla bla & here i am updating my 'diary'....till then good nite.