MY GARDEN WEDDING

An Endless Love

I introduce 'Endless Love'.. Its my inspiration of my affections in garden wedding theme, I love the concept of an open wedding ceremony... Celebrate the 'Big day' with the gratitude to the mother nature. White as pure as an endless love, live everlasting harmonized with the sophisticated color of life, live with the color of red, gold and green, prosperity and happiness. Nature is the best next to love in describing life... Aren't the color of life is interesting...? So I symbolized white in the name of purity...

EMI'S WEDDING

27th Dec 2009 In Memory

Time passes by really fast but I can never forget the good times I had in my childhood, the cries and laughter, fighting and teasing, food and jokes. Still fresh in my memory, I hardly gather with those childhood friends but when we get together the time seems to stop, feels like during those memorable days and nothing ever changed... We talked and laughed, fun and happiness of our childhood days has never fade. I can see it from the faces of my brothers and sisters... my cousins, when we were talking to each other the remembrance from the past flashing back in my memory. Then I started to get the pictures of old days, picnics, holidays.... Looking at them with my childhood eyes, so young and cute.. Shafie loves crying so much, he always cry even for no good reason..! Idah is the petite one... Shara is the talkative among us... Emi is one of our closest cousin brother, we grew up and had kinder fun together..... And today our Emi is having his big day, having his own family and he looks so handsome...!
I baked a cake for him as a weeding gift... Its a token for the memoir of an everlasting childhood days... I am so much happy for him and I had fun taking a trip down to memory lane.....!

MUM'S CHICKEN PIE

Chicken Pie

I love shepherd's pie, mutton and some yellow green vegetables .... Yay.... tempting aromatic Mediterranean cuisine.. I love the taste of mutton and lamb, the blend of smell from mutton and herbs is really mouth watering.. the meat even tastes sweet mixes with vegetables and onions...
It so much reminds me of some one from my past... still can remember the good moments, helping them out with the Christmas party... Carols and presents.... Those were the days... :p
I prefer to bake my pie with salty crust but ready made puff pastry is making my baking much easier. Today, instead of mutton I cook my pie's filling with chicken... Jojo is not a fan of mutton so this little man is making so much fusses with the smell of mutton. For my filling, I added in mushrooms, mixed vegetables and parsley for its beautiful fresh smell. And Bechamel's sauce makes my pie's filling perfect with buttery and milky taste.... Yay..!
Puff pastry ain't easy to prepare but you can always buy from local hypermarket and it costs about RM5 for 10 pieces and just nice to make 10 small pies. Its really helpful for working moms to bake very own pies at home... Mashed potatoes for topping, sure makes your tummy much filing... Or if you are cutting down the carbs... just cover the pie with another piece of puff pastry and don't forget to brush egg wash and sprinkle with oregano... Myself had 3 pieces and we saved 5 pieces for tomorrow's journey going back to Kuala Lumpur.... KL I'm coming back....!

SPICY SQUIDS

Sambal Sotong

Ingredients :
500 grams of squids
1 cup of dried chili
2 onions
5 garlic
water
Tamarind paste
Salt and sugar
Cooking oil

• Blend chili, onion and garlic
• Heat oil and saute blended ingredients
  
• Add in squids
• Add in water and tamarind paste
• Add in salt and sugar

I am a late risen today, we are used to sleep late nowadays. Lately I was having some restless nights, I was on late night movies and kidos were playing the games from Facebook. Kind of enjoyable games, farms, cafes and there is one game named YoVille, it's quite an interesting game. An interactive game, connecting players from the network. Create your own character, change the appearance and you can always dress it up... You can even have your own apartment and it's fully furnished...! Jojo has an apartment which is really nice...
It feels like you are interacting with real people in the real world except for this world is shrunken to fit into a monitor. World of cyber really pulls someone's leg taking you from the reality and the time is left far behind before u can notice it....
I had no idea what to cook for the lunch, I have taken out frozen squids from the freezer. Felt like eating something spicy and pungent, I missed eating a lot of chilies... I think Sambal Sotong is perfect for today's menu, leave the cyber world a side for a while and enjoy a plate of warm rice with these spicy chili squids...

FINGER FOOD

Shanghai Lumpia

Lumpia or Popiah as what we call it in Malaysia, it's a finger food and a type of savory delicacies. Also know as Spring Roll, thin rice paper rolled with feelings inside and fried till crisp. Not only savory filings but there are some spring roll version with sweet feelings, it's nice too but I like to have my Lumpia with Thai chili sauce, exquisitely delicious...! I got this recipe from one Filipino family, I learned few Philippines dishes from them too... well, their food is not much different from us here in Malaysia but there are few ingredients which are mainly used with a generous amount in their dishes... For example, a lot of vinegar and tomatoes, tamarind for they sour soup and cheese in some of the dishes... So normal Popiah here in Malaysia with vegetables filings, some added with little shrimps and deep fried. But I don't much crave for it unless if it is fresh popiah, MMMM...I love it... the method of preparing it is almost the same, but with out deep frying it and the ingredients are more to prepare. This Shanghai Lumpia is meaty inside, beef or chicken.. Some vege and WOW...! Don't forget Thai chili sauce...!

MOCHA ICE BLENDED

.

Mocharano

Today I am just too happy to make my self a glass of coffee ice blended... The day is fine, the weather is good and my mood is excellent. The day was hot and sunny but then the rain drizzled and the breeze is soft and cooling. Kidos are being very good babies and less fighting actions in the house, no yelling can be heard today ... It's a relaxing moments for me off course...!
And I am missing mom's nescafe that she used to make every morning and every day... That's her favorite drink and the rest of us can't escape for not drinking everyday with out fail... Mom said every body has to drink milk everyday but she mixes it with instant coffee, we don't really like it actually but it seems to be compulsory because she prepares nescafe for everyday breakfast.... I like tea and sometimes hot chocolate, Kidos love tea too and most of us drink hot chocolate but normally we have no choice but to take the same nescafe everyday. Well, it's nothing bad about nescafe but as you know, we always ask for some thing other than what we have right? For the more it's not an easy job to make some one's tummy happy... and today I really miss mom's breakfast drink... I can even smell the aroma of fresh made coffee, i wonder where that smell came from...? I am really missing her, Donut and Jojo has been calling her over the phone more frequent lately... We miss you, mom...!...I can even smell your coffee today...!
So I told my self..." I better get a good glass of coffee ice blended...!"...."With chocolate syrup...!".... I made coffee drinks with extra sugar and milk because later on I will add in ice and blend together. Before that I prepared chocolate syrup, melt some chocolate bar and whisk nicely with milk. Chocolate syrup will be at the bottom of the glass then poured in coffee ice blended and I topped it with fresh whipping cream sprinkled with chocolate chips...

SUGARSPICE LITE MEAL

Rice Congee

Ingredients for porridge :
Rice
Generous amount of water

• Cook rice until soft and watery

Condiments for rice congee :

Stir Fried vegetable :

• Saute chopped onion, garlic and chili
• Add in Mustard leaves, Kangkung, Lady's finger or brinjal
• Add in salt and ready to serve

Black Pepper Beef :

• Saute onion, garlic and ginger
• Add in grounded black pepper
• Add in beef
  
• Add in oyster sauce
• Add in salt and sugar

Hard boiled salted eggs
Chili fried ikan bilis

I don't feel good today, I didn't have a good sleep last night... the weather was hot and I was having some kind of restless sleep. I slept for few hours and suddenly woke up, couldn't sleep again. So I watch some movies on Astro, I had a cup of hot chocolate and two slices of bread with butter spread. Felt a bit hungry, ya off course... It was 3 am and the last meal I had was about 9 pm. Kidos were sound asleep and they could be very tired this evening, such a good helpers... they have done a lot with gardening, it's quite tiring to maintain that piece of land but that is how mom spend her leisure ever since she quit from desk job and committed her self to be at home for full time. So if mom can do it why not us...? GAMBATE....! Especially this summer, plants need to be watered twice a day, at the end tip of leaves are dried and yellowish... Obviously the weather is getting warmer since there is no sign of rain for almost two weeks..
I have watched two movies on marathon and still couldn't sleep but good for me because I need to go to the market this very morning. Buy some groceries and stock up the refrigerator and it was a very fine morning to go out. I spent half an hour in the market, not far from the house... It doesn't take long to reach home. The time was almost 9 am, so I decided to cook lunch... I planned for a light meal, since I was not feeling that well so I was thinking to make rice porridge and cook some simple dishes...

HAVANA TORTE

Havana Torte

Doesn't it looks delicious....? I craved for this one since the past couple of months... that was the first time I baked it. I got it from mom's book, she has these collections of recipes... and I still can remember that I've tried all of them. One of them is my favorite Mr Havana Torte, Vanilla sponge layered with chocolate pudding and iced with whipping cream. If you can notice from the picture, I used longans in my recipe. Instead of longans, peach and banana goes well with this cake. It gives a little surprises while eating the cake, what we have here...?... fruity surprise...!
Mom used to bake all kinds of bakeries and pastries when we were younger, our childhood was really sweet... and I mean REALLY SWEET...! It is so true, I have the evidence on that in my childhood photo album. It was really embarrassing, photos of a small girl with hollow smile, MMM.... I wonder who is that pretty, sweet and adorable girl ...? only the smile is not as pretty as mine... :p .I mean NOW ... Those cakes and cookies surely know how to destroy your smile but they are so much irresistible, look sweet and yummy and how can you banish the memory, the moment you indulging Moist Chocolate Cake, Banana Chocolate Pie, Blueberry Cheese Cake and etc...etc...of those yummies... And I am still enjoying my self with varieties of pastries and bakeries but me, I am baking for myself with less sugar... because I don't enjoy Hollow Smile...

THIRST QUNCHER

Pink Panther

Ingredients :
Plain yogurt
Strawberry concentrated powder
Ice cubes
Cut grapefruits or oranges

• Blend ice and strawberry powder
• Scoop yogurt into a serving glass
• Pour ice blended into the glass
• Top with cut citrus
  

Cooling and very refreshing for this summer, Donut and Jojo were really happy when I came out from the kitchen with my version of strawberry ice blended.... It's PINK PANTHER.... What a great relieving sensation... Pink Panther come to quench your thirst.....! I bought this ice blended powder back in Kuala Lumpur from a bakery ingredients supplier some where near by home. It is quite expensive for that small packet and actually we can substitute it with concentrated juice powder that can easily get from hypermarket which is much cheaper in comparison. Or instead of powder form, we can also use liquid concentrated drink base and add in sugar if it is required depends on the sweetness... Try yourself ....

BREAKFAST WITH SUGARSPICE

Bee Hoon Goreng

One fine morning, peaceful and quiet... far from the sound of running vehicles and honks, only the weather is warmer than yesterday. Here in Jitra especially around Bandar Darulaman and Kelubi is like having 'Breakfast Feast' every morning as early as 6.30 right untill 9 am. What ever you crave for your breakfast, just name it and you can get it as long as you know where is the right location. All you have to do is to stop from one stall to another stall, a lot to be chose... varieties of traditional cakes, lontong, nasi lemak, mee soup, soto, laksam and roti canai... Fried Bee Hoon is one of the popular breakfast meal, I am not so favor of it but if fried rice... I will never SAY-NO...!
Well, this Fried Bee Hoon reminds me a lot to someone, it's his favorite and he doesn't mind having it everyday. And guess what...? He was on rice diet and significantly the result is very positive, he lost weight. But off course he still go for rice only once a week, and still can enjoy oily and greasy food which is YUMMY, mouth-watering and for not having it is totally unacceptable resistant..!
Fried Bee hoon is a light meal, thin rice noodles with some chicken meat or beef and beansprout served well with omelette and crispy fried shallots. For every one person serving of Fried Bee hoon contains 294.2 cal while a complete one day meals including breakfast, lunch and dinner is equivalent to an average of 1500 cal.. bee hoon three times a day can reduce your calories intake up to 600 cal...! So if you are on diet, this is the right choice...

http://cekodok.com/index.php

FISH A DISH PART II

Sea Bass In Sweet And Sour Sauce

Ingredients :
1 medium sea bass
1 onion
3 garlic
1 inch of ginger
Pineapple and bell pepper
Tomato sauce, chili sauce and oyster sauce
Salt and sugar
Water
Cooking oil

• Fry sea bass separately and leave a side
• Heat oil and saute onion, ginger and garlic
• Add in tomato sauce, chili sauce and oyster sauce
• Add in water, salt and sugar
  
• Slice pineapple and bell pepper and add in together
• Pour sauce on the fish and ready to serve

Today Shara is with the rest in Kuala Lumpur, she left with bus. Me, Donut and Jojo are still here in Jitra , as usual we do some gardening in the evening. It was a very hot day, but later the heat was slightly cooled since the proud sun went hiding behind the gallant mountains... What a relief... I was perspiring the whole afternoon and the thirst is unquenchable, I cant remember how many glasses of water have I drank and I keep on asking Jojo to drink more water than usual. I am afraid he is going to get dehydrated and might fall sick again, he has this sickness called 'lazy syndrome'. So I sent him drinks hourly just to make sure that he is drinking... What a spoiled baby...! It's kind of quiet here since Shara is not around, her room is just so tidy! MMMM.... Unlike when she was around, another spoiled BIG BABY!
This 'Lazy syndrome' of Jojo's is contagious, I think I am infected too... What shall I cook tonight...? Nothing much left in the freezer, Sea Bass again? "Ikan Siakap Sweet Sour OK??" ......"Alright mummy!"... Sea Bass again for tonight....

JOJO'S SUPPER

Crab Stick

Last night I fell asleep earlier than others, slept soundly until I was awake by some noise coming from the kitchen. It can't be bugler because the house is very bright with all lights still on and sounds from television was very loud. Even a bugler will think twice to enter a house which was still so alive in the middle of dark black night, it's 3 am in the morning.... I was really surprise to see Jojo is cooking crab stick, and he insisted me to post it on my blog because he was so proud of telling me that he used butter instead of oil to cook ....! Crab stick or filament crab stick is not really a crab in a stick! It's a stick made from flour and few other ingredients with no crab in the list. It is added with crab or seafood flavor and if you noticed, you can see there are separable thin filaments attached to one another. These filaments will be like a piece of sheet and rolled, wrap in plastic and cut into pieces. This plastic is to avoid the filaments from breaking when it is cook in boiling water or soup, the thin filaments shall separate from each other.... By the way, in this case the crab and the stick are two separate items... Do you know that...?

GHANI CHAR KUEY TEOW

Ghani Char Kuey Teow

Last two days me, Shara and kidos went for a dinner outside. We went to the famous char kuey teow restaurant in Bandar Darulaman town. It's Ghani Char Kuey Teow Restaurant, they have fans all over Malaysia. Some can even drive up here or stop over if they are passing Alor Setar just to enjoy the char! A lot of people eating and queuing up waiting to take away their chars home... And the place is lively where a lot of youngsters and ia hang out for students from UUM staying some where near by. MMMM... I wonder what is that Ghani guy's secret ingredients...? The taste is so nice and you will always remember it and sure will seek for the same char again and again... What can I say, it just so delicious.... !

MARBLE CAKE

Marble Butter Cake

I love butter cake, everybody loves butter cake... I chose to bake marble butter cake today, as usual I am using Fern's Butter in my recipe. I prefer to use butter than margarine because of the milky taste and I think it also contributes to the texture. But some like the tastes and smells of margarine, it has a bit of saltiness and less buttery milky smells... Anyway I love butter , even though it will boost the cholesterol level...! The recipe is simple, butter, sugar, eggs, flour and leavening agent. And most butter cake recipes have the same proportions and quantity of butter, flour and sugar. To make marble, you can choose any flavors... Chocolate, strawberry, pandan or screwpine leaves, orange coffee. Mostly chose chocolate marble, it taste as wonderful as it's looks right...? The method of preparing is not complicated, creaming method or batter mix later with meringue to form a more spongy and soft texture. MMMM.... This is splendid with a cup of hot tea for the evening....
This is some tips for baking, to avoid butter cake from cracking... 200 C for the first half of baking later maintain 160 C for the second half of baking.