Monday, January 29, 2007

:+: Recipes for Valentine's Day :+:

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Message in Chocolate
Sweeten your valentine’s morning by topping his coffee with love. Spoon a bit of foamed milk on top, and use a squeeze bottle to draw a heart with room-temperature chocolate syrup—store-bought or homemade—just before serving. Make sure foam is dense and syrup is thin. Serve immediately; the image will last only a minute or two. This trick works on cappuccino and latte, or hot chocolate topped with whipped cream.




Valentine's Day Cookie Pops
By Amanda Formaro
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Ingredients:
  • 20 vanilla wafer cookies
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1 6-ounce bag white chocolate chips
  • 1 6-ounce bag semi sweet chocolate chips
  • colored candy sprinkles, red & white
  • pink and red gummy or sour patch bears
  • cake decorating writer gel in green, pink, red, black, and white
  • 1 tube each of white, red, and pink cake decorator frosting with flower tip
  • red food coloring
  • ice cream or lollipop sticks
  • wax paper or paper plates
Instructions:
Spread peanut butter onto the flat side of the cookies. Place an ice cream stick into the peanut butter on half the cookies. Top with another cookie so the stick is sandwiched between the two cookies.

Melt chocolate chips
Before melting, separate the white chips into two bowls. After melting, add a few drops of red food coloring to one of the bowls of white chips to make pink chocolate. Dip cookie pops in the melted chips, covering completely. Roll pops in red and white sprinkles and lay or stand on waxed paper or paper plates. Place in refrigerator to chill.

Fun Variations

  • Drizzles -- Alternating between white chocolate, pink chocolate and semi sweet, drizzle melted chocolate over the cookie to create a cool look!
  • Writing -- Write fun Valentine shorts on plain pops such as "Love" or "Hug". Add a gummy bear.
  • Hearts -- Use the decorator gel to draw on hearts and hearts with arrows.
  • Flowers -- Using the flower tip, pipe on pink flowers with cake decorator icing. Use green gel to add stems and leaves to the bouquet.
Note: Another variation is to use vanilla or chocolate frosting instead of peanut butter for the filling. These can also be made without sticks. Use one stick to be able to dip the cookies in chocolate and roll in sprinkles, then remove the stick and put on wax paper or paper plates, then chill.



Valentine's Day Cupcakes
By Amanda Formaro
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Ingredients:

  • your favorite box cake, any flavor
  • red food coloring
  • white buttercream icing
  • red, pink and green decorator gel
  • red, pink and white decorator frosting
  • flower decorating tip
  • red & white sprinkles cupcake liners

Instructions:
Prepare cake mix as directed. If desired, you can make pink cupcakes with either a flavored mix, such as cherry, or add a few drops of red food coloring to a prepared white cake mix. Put cupcake liners into muffin tins and fill liners as directed on box cake mix. Bake as directed and allow to cool thoroughly before frosting and decorating.

When finished, separate into two dishes. Add a few drops of red food coloring to one bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed. You should have one bowl of pink icing and one bowl of white.

Decorate
There's really not much to decorating cupcakes, especially in the eyes of your admiring children. Just a dollop of frosting is artistic enough for them! Here are a few simple tips that will help you decorate your holiday cupcakes.

  • Piping - Using the flower tip on the decorator frosting, pipe a border around the frosted cupcake. Use contrasting colors -- red piping on white frosting, white piping on pink, etc.
  • Sprinkles - The beauty of sprinkles is that there is no perfection involved. SImply drop them and let them ly where they fall. Use contrasting colors, and mix colors when pleasing.
  • Shapes - Use the decorator gels to "draw" on heart shapes or to add flowers and leaves to a cupcake. You can also use these to dot around the outside edge of one of the treats. These are also ideal for writing words, such as "love", "be mine" and "kiss".
  • Frosting only - Use the two different colored frostings to decorate one cupcake. Spread half of a cupcake with white, and carefully spread the other half with pink. You can also spread a full coat of white on and dot the center with pink. Get creative and try swirls or other shapes by using only frosting.

Be sure to store your cupcakes in a tightly covered container so they do not harden or go stale. That is, if they last that long!



Rich Chocolate Hard Cakes

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Serves 4
You will need twelve 3 3/4-inch heart molds or tart pans with removable bottoms to make individual chocolate cakes.

Ingredients:
6 large sprigs fresh rosemary
1 large egg white
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
11 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
5 large eggs, separated
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Chocolate Rosemary Ganache
Hazelnut Praline (Opetional)

Instructions:
  1. Separate rosemary into small bunches. Beat egg white with a drop or two of water until it is very loose. Place superfine sugar in a small, shallow bowl. Lightly brush one sprig of rosemary with the egg white. Sprinkle superfine sugar over the damp bunch of rosemary; shake to remove excess. Transfer rosemary to a cooling rack to dry, at least 1 hour. Repeat until all rosemary is used; set aside sugared rosemary. (It will keep at room temperature for about 24 hours.)
  2. Preheat the oven to 275° with two racks centered. In the top of double boiler, or in a heat-proof bowl set over simmering water, melt butter and chocolate together, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Set mixture aside to cool.
  3. In a medium bowl, lightly beat egg yolks, and stir them into the cooled chocolate mixture. Add granulated sugar, flour, and baking powder to the chocolate mixture, and stir to combine.
  4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites just until soft peaks form. Stir one-third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold the chocolate mixture into the remaining egg whites, just until combined. Spoon the batter into twelve 3 3/4-inch heart molds with removable bottoms. Transfer molds to a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until centers spring back when touched, about 45 minutes. Transfer molds to a wire rack, and let sit 5 minutes. Unmold cakes. (After they have cooled, if not using right away, cover cakes lightly with plastic wrap.)
  5. To serve, place a cake on serving plate. Pour warm ganache over it; sprinkle with praline, if using. Top with a second and then a third cake layer, drizzling each with ganache. Repeat to make 3 more servings. Sprinkle cakes with praline if desired, and garnish with sugared rosemary. Serve.


Sunday, January 28, 2007

:+: Penang Rojak-KO :+:


:+: Anna's Rojak: Pineapple, Apple, Guava, Mengkuang (Giant Water Chestnut), Tauhu, Cucumber, Crushed Peanuts, Penang Rojak-ko :+:


Selling at RM5.00 each bottle. Each bottle can serve approximately 10 servings of the above.

This is Penang's Sambal Rojak aka Penang Rojak-ko, is specially imported from Penang. The aroma is very the chao (smelly). The taste is simply the best with a little spicy end taste. Kuching's Rojak-ko is not as good or not even close to the best-ness of this Penang's Rojak-ko. After you tried this Penang's Rojak-ko, Kuching's rojak would be tasteless. It is just that good!

I'm saving the rest of the rojak-ko for CNY. wuekekekeke..

Saturday, January 27, 2007

:+: Happy Birthday Joel :+:


Stealing some cream from the cake X3


Look at his right hand. The Spiderman stunt hand!


Joel: We blow together later, okay?
Zach: Okay.

**After singing the birthday song**


Joel blew the candles first. Zach was just about to blow the candles.
Zach: It's too late. I can't blow the candles.
It's ok baby zach, we can light the candles again.

**Light the candles again and started singing the birthday song, now in chinese**


*zach: wee... i blew them first. dadadada..dadadada (machine gun sound)*
*joel: Hey, I'm about to blow them. =/ *


John being shy at the cam


Friday, January 26, 2007

:+: Secret Recipe Opening Soon :+:



Located just opposite Wisma Phoenix (Ex-Upwell), the famous KL cake shop, Secret Recipe is opening soon. IN KUCHING!!

wahahaha.. I hope the cakes taste the same!

Friday, January 19, 2007

:+: My Experience with KFC's Latest BURGER :+:

kfcI date my mum for lunch today. We wanted to try the new stuff since I got us some discount vouchers. There were so many people making order and most of them ordered the Alaskan Fish Burger. So, we thought it might be very good since it's such a SALE! That really convinced us to order the Alaskan Fish Burger too. We waited patiently for our turn to order.

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It costs RM8.00 but with the discount voucher it's RM6.72 including tax.

Due to the good Fish Burger business KFC is having, we had to start our lunch with the coleslow while waiting for the burger.

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tadaaa... my lunchie. Looking good? The Burger looks much smaller and not as exciting as the ad.

After all the 5-8 minutes of waiting, our burger came. Excitedly, I opened my box and har??!! That's it?? It's okay, KFC's food never looked the same as it is on the ad. So I hold the burger up and it looks disgusting! yerkz..
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yerkz... So slimy and eeeky..
Taste yucky too! The sauce tastes weird + funny = toilet visit

My mum ignored me and just *BITE*. Ewww.. My mum started to make funny faces and asked me if the fish is cooked or not. I looked at her fish and was shocked to find the fish's flesh looking transparent aka NOT COOKED!! My mum's fish is NOT COOKED!! I asked the waiter to change her burger but my mum was already 'put off' by the fish. So, she bought cheezy wedges. That's her lunch. kecian... What a date.. X3

a lil too cheezy, makes the wedges very slimy and eekie

P/S: Check your fish before eating plus I don't really recommend this meal.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

:+: KFC Online Vocuher - 20% discount on Alaskan Fish Combo :+:

Colonel's Latest Fish Burger.

Original price is RM7.70. After discount is RM6.16

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Get your voucher now and try the latest fish burger!! Tell me what you think about it, ok?! =D

You can print it out or photocopy as much as you want!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

:+: Happy Birthday Lionel :+:

Happy Birthday Nel Nel~!!

It's Lionel's birthday. *clears throat*

Happy Birthday to you x 2
Happy Birthday to Nel Nel~
Happy Birthday to you....


The Birthday Boy

For his birthday, I've made Peach Cheese Cake. This is the easiest cake recipe I've ever seen and it's the easiest to make!! According to everyone, the success rate in making this cheese cake is like 99.9%!! However, I for one, didn't know that gelatin has to be melted before adding into the mixture. So, that's the 0.01% failure, I guess. Fortunately, the cake turns out great! It's still intact plus it's superlicious. Anyway, for those of you who "DON'T" get to try it, you don't know what you've missed. MUAHAHHAHAHA.. just kidding..

I'm just so proud of myself that even though there's 0.01% failure, the cheese cake is still great. *BIG WINKS*


Nel's Birthday Cake. Everything has it own brand, so as for the cake. X3




E
xtremely rich and creamy. Superlicious~! muahahahaha.. I'm very proud of myself. Unbelievably I can make something so beautiful yet so superlicious. *winks*



Pressie for Nel: De lil Devil *grinzz*

I think I can start selling Cheese Cakes! hahahahaha...

Sunday, January 07, 2007

:+: Nyonya Bites* :+:

There's this new place in 4th Mile that looks like the Mini Travilion called the 3rd Exchange. According to Lionel, both of them are from the same developers. Therefore, you can see that their design and material are quite similar.

On this very hot freaking day, we drop by at Nyonya Bites*. Lionel's friend's place.

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Nyonya Bites* @ 3rd Exchange

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Believe it or not, it's 41°!!!

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ICE!! Great for this hot day

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Metahone @ RM1.70
- not as good as 3 Small's XD -


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Cucur Udang aka He Pia @ RM0.60 each

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Fried Quail @ RM3.50 each [tastes like chicken, just smoother]
awww.. would you look at those small lil wings and drumsticks.. So cutie & it taste real good~

Saturday, January 06, 2007

:+: Foochow Breakfast :+:

Last time I used to go to this coffeeshop for breakfast every Sunday with my family. They serve Foochow food, Pork Leg Rice and Bak Kut Teh. Now, we rarely go there anymore because the Pork Leg Rice/Bak Kut Teh tauke moved to a new place. His Pork Leg Rice and Bak Kut Teh is very nice. My dad loves his pork leg very much, I like his Bak Kut Teh very very much. This tauke moved to his own shop. The kopitiam is next to the MAS building, the same block as Junction Corner.

Soon, Mr. Pork Leg Rice ex-shop evolve from some chinese name coffeeshop to Grandma Klang. Not far from here, there are new shoplots near the appartment. There is a shop called Madam Tang. For those of you who have been to KL or is living in KL, you would know of a popular dining area called Madam Kwan. Madam Kwan? Madam Tang? Madam Grandma Kwan-Tang? Hmm.. Just coincidence or double coincidence. Not like I'm saying they're copying names and all.. but they should try something more likely not coincidence to some people like me. Probably, Ah Ma Kwan or Tang Ah So or something. Just Kidding..

Grandma Klang specialized in Bak Kut Teh as shown:
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I specially love their 'Chow Chai Hung Ngan' (in foochow) [Fried preserved vege with big bee hoon]. Simply the best~
Satisfaction: Yes

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Look at that little boy. You can know how nice the Kam Pua Mee by the look on his face.
Satisfaction: Yes

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Mee Sua [so called long life noodles. Usually we eat it during someone's birthday].
Satisfaction: No Idea

For some Foochow cuisine, I would like to introduce another place that serve great foochow food. It's somewhere in Ang Cheng Ho area called Happy Cafe (I think..) The Chow Chai Hung Ngan (soup) is the best! Very the ho liak (delicious).

Thursday, January 04, 2007

:+: "BIGGEST" Beef Balls :+:

Always always always ask for what and how the food looks like and most importantly the size and quantity before confirming your order!

We had lunch over at Lam's Place. They have new items in the menu. So Lionel was interested in the Fried Beef Balls. We asked on how it's done. We were told that the beef balls would be deep fried. So ok..

This is the result of Fried Beef Balls:

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Our lunchie: (Anti Clockwise)Raw Beef Meat, Chilli sauce, Fried Beef Balls, Rice

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12 mini beef balls for 5 freaking bucks

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It's so small that it's the same size of the freaking soya bean card!

They should change the name to Fried Small Beef Balls. At least Lionel won't be so disappointed and I'll won't be laughing my head off.