The Lasagna Challenge, A Spicy Makeover!!

my God I didn't know the date was changed to the 27th. opps. but then again, posting at the 30th is still LATE for the initial reveal date! Arghh!! blame the poor management skills and uni work! huhu.

anyway,

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Okay,

this is my first time ever making a pasta from scratch! It was almost a disaster *again!*

I was chopping through the spinach very finely (and very very slowly) when my mom enters the kitchen.

"why don't you just use the chopper if you want it to be THAT fine"

ahaha, I don't know what i'd do without her! make it so much easier than slicing and chopping bit by bit. So into the chopper machine it goes. A few buzz later and tadaa!! nicely fine chopped spinach ready to be inserted to the dough.

As I have learned from the previous challenge, I just put the whole flour into a bowl instead of a flat surface to avoid messy goey masses on the floor (danish bread challenge), make a hole in it and pour two great eggs.

Flour well with eggs

next is a mountain of spinach! weeee~ ever so healthy!

mix it up till it form a ball... OMG, just look at the lumpy-ness! haha!

and knead!!

err, wait, why is it all sticky?? urgh!!

maybe it'll be smooth (as stated in the recipe) after the kneading.

with a sticky-monster-green-hand ten minutes later (hence the absence of pictures depicting the sticky pasta ball from goey hell) i thought of adding more flour to the dough.

I have been making bread for a long time and dough is not really my enemy. thus when I make bread, or anything to do with dough, I'll follow my instinct and feel for the texture. But I was trying to follow the recipe to the dot since it is my first ever pasta making (and people say you have to follow every single thing within the recipe) I hesitated to add any flour. It was like committing a sin every time I add another tablespoon of flour (yes, ppl I added by tablespoons, hahaha) I kneaded patiently and the dough keeps on sticking.

there's this Malay saying; "sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit"

literally means little by little, it (the amount) will pile up.

after adding ONE whole cup of flour by tablespoons, I say, to hell with it! I'll just add acorfing to my taste and feel!!! I ended up adding a one and a quarter cup extra flour to the dough before finally giving it a rest(read; giving up) for about one hour.

and since I've modified the recipe, i was in the mood for another chaotic mess with the ragu. there were saute' onions and garlic, throw in the minced meat, cumin, oregano, more herbs and spices poured (in malaysia, this is called rempah campak, literally you throw in a number of random spices in unmeasured quantities) into the pan and finally some tomatoes plus a bit of tomato puree. Simmer for some time and it's done! I know, not exactly a ragu for a lasagna but I was exhausted with the dough :P

the bechamel sauce was modified too. I boiled three potatoes, mash it up and stir into the bechamel sauce to thicken it up and give it some texture. Yumm~

If only the Italians knew, what blasphemy!!

hey it's all the dough's fault!! It triggered some neurotic change

anyway, back at the pasta dough,
looking at the videos provided in youtube, the pasta was perfectly rolled on without sticking together. how i wish I could get a hold of a long rolling pin too!! knowing mine was rather unconventional, I laid a huge piece of plastic sheet on the table, pour some more flour (actually it was a LOT more) on the sheet, my hands, and the rolling pin before proceeding with the rolling :D

cut the dough to quarters and rolled away till what I presume was paper thin cause I can't see through the pasta no matter how thin it was. The only thing I could see was GREEN all over the table! then i cut it into loooong pieces before drying it off. Owh btw, there were some that stuck to the plastic sheets (imagine that!!) and end up with holes here and there! hahaha!! something like what Lisa had!

the rest was a synch! boiled some pasta, arrange the layers and pop into the oven.

err wait... my mom walk into the kitchen again

"so, is the lasagna ok?"

"nope, the ragu's not red enough!"

"here, put some of this squid sambal in"

"but, it's spicy!"

"yea, the spicer, the better!!"

and I plonk in a GENEROUS amount of sambal into the lasagna in between the sea of cheese. In case you people don't know what sambal is, it's actually a mixture of herb, spices and lots and lots of chilies! And this time around, the sambal was extremely spicy! Hah!! A spicy lasagna! But it was gone in an instant! My mom loved it to bits. she ate like two plates right after it came out of the oven. Hehe~ the whole family liked it too.

The Final Product ~ abit burned (on the top) since I went upstairs and forgot about it for a good 30 mins, hey, I was TIRED okay!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Mary, Melinda and Enza for hosting this challenge! I'd never try making pasta from scratch before. Now I know I can do it!! Next time I'd make ravioli too :)

check out what others did here

Going Back to Terendak!!

well, tomorrow's the day.

My one week holiday have finally come to an end. Starting tomorrow, we'd be prepping patients for surgery and on Monday, we'd start the class. The holiday started with four objectives in mind. Through, only one objective was completed and even that was barely successful. Ah, well, I can try again next time to increase my weight ;P

anyway, here's what I've made throughout the week.

Danish Braid for DB

Dorie Greenspan's PP cake

Strawberry Parfait

Chicken Pie

Chewwy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The cake and the danish bread took the whole day each. It was exhausting. But really WORTH it. For those who got to sample them, thank you for your comments. You guys really are my wonderful testers (read: guinea pigs) these recipes are definitely a keeper. I'm going to make them again in the future for sure. Just wish I could get some pictures before everything was finished.

Goodbye holiday, Hello SURGERY (takot)


EDIT: this was supposed to be up like 2 weeks ago! hahaha.. well, will update next week. Promise!

Cleansed

UPDATE: since it was frustrating to change all those horrible htmls, I reverted back to blogspot classic templates.. hahaha... owh well, let the baking begin!


So,

while other people are studying and/or working their butts off on the assignments, I'm in front of the lap top screen trying to solve the puzzle that is htmls. It have been days since i wanted to revamp the whole thing. tried to turn it into a more foodie-like blog. Tough luck through. i was halfway through the templates when i suddenly don't have any ideas anymore. it's like the inspiration just went through the door without warning. so it took a while again. however the total foodie blog idea never did came back to me. Owh well, I could just settle with this interface for now. at least its clean and crisp (yeah right). So, anyone knows how to make the blue blogger bar to appear again in my page?? *in begging position*



on another note, I've been baking. yeah, baked non-stop in the one week holiday. I even served my mum's student some mini pizzas (a nightmare I tell ya). Almost faint from all that oven heat and kneading for two days straight.



then there's also the picnic with two crazy women.

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bake some chocolate-almond moist cake last week for some post-traumatic-stress disorder I had. Baking had always been therapeutic for me. well, cooking just about anything is good too. If there was any bumps in my life I'd turn to cooking to cool off. However, on that particular Sunday, i burnt 1/4 of the cake while mind wondered off. It was just a first degree burn I tell ya, but the cake wasn't as moist as it was meant to be anymore. Edible, yes. But it was still burnt and not moist. I hated it.

It was not my finest moments.



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Daring Baker's Challenge April

First of all, let me apologize for being late for the entry (and it’s my first time for DB too, talk about first impression eh?)

But really, between having exams and then cut off from the net for three days, I couldn’t post anything in a while.

So,

Here goes,

This month’s challenge was hosted by Elle and Deborah. A tough one I might say. Through I made a few cheesecakes before, cheesecakes have never been my forte. So when I read that the cheesecake was going to get molded and covered in chocolate, I was both excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because it’s coated in my favorite ingredient of all time; chocolate and nervous as it’s not your normal cheesecake.

I planned the whole thing way early of the month. But as the saying goes, not everything goes as we planned. I just got back from a cousin’s wedding and decided to take a quick nap. When I woke up, I look at my watch and it’s 11.30 pm, one hour before I must pack my bags. Shooot.. I quickly go downstairs and measure the ingredients, mix everything up and pop it into the oven. 35minutes later, the cake was golden and I happily leave it to cool before packing my bag and leaving for my hostel with the cake. It took me some time before I realized that I forgot the chocolate and colored decorations thingy (don’t know what it’s called). Well, suffice to say, I just bought the chocolate on the way but it was clear the cheesecake pops won’t have much décor.

The cake wasn’t even soft from the start, it was firm out of the oven and when it was cooled in the refrigerator, it became even firmer. Initially I wanted to cut it out into small pieces and work it into a ball from there, but it seemed like the cake wasn’t budging at all. Maybe I over measure the flour a bit. I was dumbfounded. I read about something similar happened to another blogger and she put it into a blender/mixer before shaping it into a ball again. However, being in the hostel, I have limited access to the kitchen utensils. I stare at the solid, now cube-like cake for a minute before deciding to go with the dipping. The chocolate hardens pretty fast. it was getting thicker as I was dipping the twelve one. But after a minute in the microwave, it was spreadable and I continued with the other pops.

Overall, the cake had a bit too much flour and cheese making it firm and too cheesy. The whole thing was funny now that I think about it. Racing here and there and forgetting my stuff along the way. I’d have to plan the next challenge better. Through It’d give this recipe another try next week. As my mum always say, “you have to keep on trying the recipe until you got it just right!”

I Told You So

So,
I was waiting at the bus stop, when a group of Arabic guys came. There were six burly guys, just chatting away and the look at this one scrawny fella (read: me) sitting at the bus stop. One by one looked at me before settling down. Three guys on each side. I'm in the middle. What was their problem lah kan? I just grab my bag and felt for something inside it. Luckily, there was an umbrella inside (umbrella yg kecik boleh lipat2 tuh) I held it tight. Just in case. You can never be too sure with the foreigners in cyberjaya. Silap2 kang die kerjekan pulak!! But the bus stop was just infront of Sri Putri, so I can still run away if anything happens. And it was in the broad daylight, so I just sat there with an umbrella in my hand. They were talking among themselves about something and I just stare straight at the school in front of me. Then, I thought one of the guys were looking straight at me while saying something. The first thing running through my mind was, why is this guy looking at me like that. I kept on staring at the school. Then, he looked irritated and raise his voice a bit.

Then the thought hit me.

The guy was trying to talk to me! In arabic! ahahahaha!!

me: Sorry, I don't speak your language.
Then he spoke in a different dialect. (eh, pulak lah kan, mamat nie!)

Blurr me: Do you speak english? big burly guy: Yes, can you tell me how I go to Petaling Street? me: Owh, just take a bus to Putrajaya and then another one to KL central and then take the monorail. BBG: Do they have a bus from KL central to Petaling Street?
me: yeah, but I don't know the bus number. BBG: owh ok. thank you.

I was laughing at myself inside. It was so damn embarrassing! Itulah, dulu mak ko suroh balja Arabic, ko lari blaja Japanese. Kan da kene org nak cakap arabic ko tekontang-kanting.

AAaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Gi arr blaja arabic!!

rahsie pekong didada: I'm the only one in the family who don't know how to speak in arabic :P Even my Japanese have gone karat already because there was no one to talk too. hehehe.

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I made some Brioche à tête after seeing it on Su Yin's blog. It was somehow, a pain in the ass to make this soft bread. Perhaps it was because I was stressing on it too much. But then again the websites in the internet were giving so much warnings all over their instructions, it scarred the hell out of me while making the dough.

So, here's a recipe I came up with after editing here and there. This time, I even edited the instructions. Maybe that's why it was so much work. haha..

yeast
1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar (warm)

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 tbsp butter (unsalted is the best cause you're going to use alot of it)
2 tbsp milk (optional)
5 tbsp sugar
4 eggs

preparations:

Mix the yeast with some warm milk and sugar. set aside for half an hour or until it becomes active/ bubbly and frothy.

sift the flour. (as highly as you can)

Separate one egg yolk. set aside.

Beat the egg yolk with the remaining eggs.

If using butter sticks, chop it to smaller pieces.

Instructions:

Mix one cup of the flour with yeast mixture and sugar. Using a wooden spoon, incorporate the eggs bit by bit. The dough will become very wet and cake-like mixture. Sprinkle the remaining flour to the dough and mix lightly for around 8 minutes. The dough will shape up a little bit. Then, you'll need to knead by hand and incorporate the butter.

On a flour-dusted surface, spread out the dough to form a square. dust a bit of flour and fold the dough together. repeat several times until it became elastic and not sticky. (don't worry if part of the dough is sticks to the surface, thats normal)

Once the dough is not sticky, spread it out again, then put the knobs/chunks/small pieces of butter on the dough. fold it and knead again by hand. (the dough will become 'wet' again) This time knead the dough faster until it is smooth again.

put it in a buttered bowl and let rise for 1/2 hour. It will have doubled twice the volume. Punch it and then refrigerate the dough for 3 hours. The dough will have rise again. Punch it for the second time and let it rest for 30 mins.

the dough will have rise a bit. But just take the dough and roll small balls. I made twelve balls out of it. separate 1/3 of each ball and roll it until it became a round ball. Now you'll have twelve pairs of balls. Put the bigger balls into a big muffin pan. with one finger, poke the balls and the fit in the smaller balls on top of the bigger balls.

Beat the egg yolk until it is glossy but not overeaten, and wash the brioche. Let it rest for 30 mins before popping into the oven for 30mins.

**It took the whole day to make this one. IF I were to make it again in the future, I'd make it in two days. The whole ordeal was just too much. I sifted the flour in hopes that the product won't become a cake-like texture (as the recipe is quite rich in butter and eggs) I beat the egg too much that I had to be careful while mixing it with the flour in fear of overbeating the egg. that means it'll require a wooden spoon and naturally I end up with a slightly tired arm after mixing a heavy dough for 10 minutes non-stop. I was panicking when I added the butter. The dough lose shape all together. It took some time to make it back into shape. I suggest if you guys are going to make it, work the dough on a plastic surface. It'll HELP, seriously. Then there were the thrice resting time. Aiyooh, I even slept throughout the 4 hours the bread was in the fridge. (Penat ok tunggu!!) But in the end, the bread was great!! the texture was soft and bread-like (yeay!!)

Tired~

ps: the bread name was quite a controversy, and so was the vulgarity of the shape. Get it? Brioche à tête. Here's some pics from the internet. (I don't have a camera so no pics)

First Chocolate Truffles

Owh, almost forgot..

this is the truffles I made for Milla's birthday. Was supposed to find a box for it, But in the (kelam-kabut & time restraints punye pasal) I plonk it into a plastic container instead and gave it to her!. hahaha

tadaaaaaaaa~

from the side. trying to be artistic, haha.

I followed the exact recipe this time, but I don't really like it very much. The testers said it's okayh and Milla said it's delicious. But I think some tweaking is in order here!

Tim-Tam truffles. But it's too cheesy for me. will reduce the cheese next time


Supposedly the shiny truffles. I forgot NOT to put it in a fridge as it will loose the shine. waaaah!!
~~~~~~~

well, at least she liked it. But cannot lawan her 'suprise' cupcakes!! Bebe... nak jugaaaaakkk!!

Happy Birthday!!!

"yelah, yelah... banyak la aku tak update... ke sebab birthday ko da dekat milla.."

huhuhu.

So, this post is dedicated for you (sebab aku tau ko ADD pasal birthday ko!! Hambek ko!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
I
MiLLa yG SeWel!!


You have been a great 'sis'!!
Cepat-cepatlah kawin, dah makin tua dah nie :P
Hope you will make it to become more ayu ( bukan kambeng terime dgn seadenye ke??)

p/s: your gift is waiting fr you here, sile ambik dengan segera!!

It;s Over!!

OMG!!!


It''s over!! It's finally over!!

wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu


Gile!!! dah habis!!!!


today, mark the final day of the Proffesional Exam. I'm free!. I'm really free!


now, I can watch the series without that certain feeling of guilt! yeay! (macam lah before this tak tgk mase exam kan? hehe)
- Husna, nak sume your latest updates (^.^)


now I can recreate and re-edit recipes from all over the net!! (heaven!!)


now I can get back to chit-chatting and making stupid jokes again!!! lalalalalalalala


Serius tension ngn exam nie. Sakit, demam, meracau sume ade. Now I can get back to do other things!! Yeay!!

-the exams have passed, now lets just pray we all pass it!!-

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Rase2 macam nak pegi date, tapi ngn sape yek?? hmm...

Rahsie nieh... hahaha

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let's do this:




- Kak Zie, sile ajar yek!!

Happy Birthday Prof. Nasar!!!

1, 2, 3...

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Happy Birthday to Prof. Nasaaaaaaaaaaar!

Happy Birthday to you!!!


I know, I know, this post is so lame compared to Husna's and Farha's entry, tapi ape nak buat, I'm not in the best shape for now. Gambar pon takde... haih (At least ade wish okayh!)

and to make it up or this crappy wish, I'll make you something (masak lagilah aku) special okayh Prof!! ~silelah tuntut lepas PRO exam, ek Prof!~

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on other news, today Adi masaks.

silelah mencabar kan


the keropok lekor

He bought some keropok lekor from Terengganu and it have been stored in the fridge far too long now. So tonite, he decided to cook em' up.


nak bukak pon payah ke??


haa, potong panjang-panjang yek bang


sebelum digoreng... eh, bukan tuh pyrex orang sebelah ke?


segan-segan lak nak letak!


posing je lebeh dua pakcik nie


lepas digoreng, well done? overdone? :P

Due to his request, I'm not posting the poyo pics here but I have them in my laptop. ~ tapi buatlah lawak burung lagik, siap ko!!

Short-break Promise!

to celebrate the end of the YM 4 event,

to pass time when I'm absolutely tension,

to finnish up the things in the fridge before it gets bad

I just HAD to do it,

I'll be damned if I let all of it go,

and so...

I had to break the promise,

I made shortbread cookies today.

(this is in between Adi's and my bed, wuahaha)

the butter was going to be ruin if I let it stay any longer in the fridge, so.. (banyak lak lah alasan ko, cakap je lah tujuan sebenar oii!! haha)
so I made the dough, in my ROOM because Zaimi and Adi was sleeping in the common room.

so here's the recipe

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup castor sugar

cream the sugar & butter until light and creamy, add in flour with a pinch of baking powder. knead until it forms a shape (no more gumpal2) and store in fridge to cool it off until it is ready to be rolled and cut.


hmmm... creammy... :P

the chilled dough



nothing special really, there's not even an egg in the mix, I would decrease the sugar content through... it was a bit too sweet for me. since I don't have a cookie cutter here, I just used the big knife to cut it out. owh, and since the round glass kept on sticking to the dough when I was rolling it (no rolling pin, sob-sob) I just used my hand! hahahaha to maximize the production, I cut the first batch into small square biscuits but it BURNED!! it was still edible through and slightly much more crunchier than the others. For the other batches, I cut it into larger pieces and it turn out quite well.


Cool it off first



the last batches (had to rush back to college as soon as I poped these into the oven)



Decided to put some chocolate on the biscuits


Tadaaaa.... macam kuih raye la pulak, siap ade bekas lagi!



well it was just a tincy-wincy promise break, heck it wasn't even a crack, right??

thee hee...

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Pictures of the strawberry cheesecake

the ingredients, huhu



fresh from the oven


can you see the strawberries?? yumm!


the first cut!



pour some cream and dig in!! okayh, I'm drooling all over again!

let's compare with the original one by her


shoot, I have a lot more room for improvements

The Final oNe, or is it a Two??

okay, so here's the deal...

this is going to be the LAST cooking/baking/steaming dessert for me!!!

.
.
.
.
.
.

until the end of PROFESSIONAL EXAM that is.

so guys, do enjoy the lemon-y caramel.

and here's the recipe (reka sendiri nie):

1 lemon (rind + juice)
120g castor sugar (or anysugar for that matter)
6 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
150ml whipping cream (saje je nak abiskan bahan)
water

firstly, peel half of the lemon (actually you can just grate it) and cut it to small cubes.
then squeeze the lemon juice out.

beat the castor sugar and the eggs until pale and fluffy. (aku agak2 aje gule tuh, da rase manis tuh, cukup ah) add in the evaporated milk.

pour the whipping cream into the evaporated tin can, then add more plain water and the lemon juice (you only need half of the lemon juice, I've learned it the hard way ;P)until it fill up the whole can. Add this concoction into the egg mixture.

beat until you are tired (if you are using a whisk) or use the mixer for 5 minutes.

pour into the ramekins/serving dish of your choice.
(mangkuk nie gune untuk semua bende including masak meggi, huhu)

you have two ways of cooking it:
a) steam the whole thing for 20 minutes, where you'll get this result.

(this one actually had the caramel before I took the pictures, so...)

b) bake it at 180 C for 40 minutes, in a bain marie.



the baked custard (it is a basic custard recipe) have a softer texture with crispy edges while the steamed custard will have a more fluffier and lighter texture.

and since I forgot to line the dish with a layer of caramel sugar, I just sprinkle some sugar on top of the custard and bake it with only the upper heat and alternatively, make the caramelized sugar on the stove, then pour it onto the custard before it cools down.

Eat it while it's piping hot or chilled...

so,

here's a toast to concentrate on studying for now. Cheers!
Bye-bye Shima's Oven, you will be missed after this!



tata~~

Cake Challenge

Owh Wow!!

made the cake last night, turn out pretty good!! through Adi said it was a bit sour (duh-uh.. the cake used sour cream) the Indon Girls said it was delicious! everyone pretty much love the crust. Thx guys, you are so my wonderful critics for my cooking! huhu...

here's the recipe (since everyone wanted it):

250g Short biscuits crushed (use 'Digestive' cookies or 'Nice' by Arnotts, I just used digistive light)
140 gms butter melted
1/4 cup brown sugar
500 gms cream cheese (softened)
300gm sour cream
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 tbsp good berry jam
1 punnet strawberries sliced
3 eggs

Meringue: 3 eggs whites+3/4 cup castor sugar

Mix melted butter, crushed biscuits and brown sugar in a large bowl. Press it into the bowl.
Beat in a large bowl, cheese, sour cream and castor sugar. Add in eggs one at a time and beat till smooth.
Arrange berries on the biscuit base and spread jam evenly on top. Cover berries with cheese mixture and spread evenly. (suke hati nak susun berries camner, aku tabor je, huhu)
Bake in preheated 160 degree oven for 45minutes till fairly set in the center
Leave the cake to cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar to prevent cracking. (IMPORTANT)
Make the meringue and spread ontop of the cake. Bake another 10-15 mins. (I just made sweet whipping cream instead :))
cool off in the refrigerator.

through, it's not my recipe; you can find it here: Journal of a Girl who loves to Cook

ahh, credits to you girl!!

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through I must say, it was quite a hassle when you don't have enough items. I only had half of the sour cream and cream cheese. So, nak tak nak, had to forfeit the idea of a full blown cake --> only made half of the batter, that's why it wasn't enough for everyone! sorry guys!

will upload the pics later...

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don't feel like having much energy again today. Just can't be as excited as I used to.. why ah??

Chaotic

I don't know what has got into me this time around.`really.

Last weekend, I thought of going back home for shopping (MEGA sale dowh!!) but my parents weren't home. My dad who have a dislocated shoulder one month ago went to Penang for some serious massage. (ade dukun patah ape tah, tak ingat la plak) so my shopping trip was canceleeed for obvious reason. realising I have no plans for the weekend (since my shopping plan was crushed) I went out with Juna and her friend from Australia (blaja je, bukan minah salleh pon :P) Guess what? we went to OU! haha! (like so ironic gile)

We ate at TGV, eh TGI Fridays. (gile makan kencang) both of the girls pick out a 3-course meal set while I, wanting to play safe, only ordered the grilled salmon. (katelah diorang makan appetiser dah ala-ala kenyang! hehe) so I had to play Zaimi/Keker's role (walaupon tak berjaya) in eating up the rest of the foodstuff with them. we never did finish any of the dishes. the Europeans must be so proud of us!:P

after resting abit(tunggu perot turun sket) we went out for a window shopping-spree. there were so many things that the girls looked and ah and oouh but none of them bought anything. "mesti target dulu, then bawak mak dtg" (tau dah taktik) oooh, and there was this incident involving Juna. Basicly, Juna + tube dress+ mannequin = a hilarious disaster!! ahahaahahaa!

at the end of the day, me, wanting to make some tiramisu, bought all of the ingredients and we set back home to Cyberjaya. The journey back was quiet, so I took out my wallet and played around with it. to cut the long journey story short, when I reached my room, I realised that my left my wallet in the car that is now heading back to Seremban (kot..) I was like

SHOOOOoooOOoOoTT!!!


there goes my money and my licence (macamlah drive sgt pon) and my bank card and my... money?! ahhh!! (dalam hati menyumpah diri sendiri gi gatal sgt memain dalam kete orang. Waa, matilah rase macam "bogel" takde beg duit kat bontot! erk, gile la takde duit utk 2/3 hari!!!.... Aaaaaaahh well, saje je exaggerate lebey. Pau budak2 rumah nie sudah *sneaky grin*)

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the next day, I made the tiramisu, despite not having any cream at all. I also went against my will in adding abit of the chocolate bar into the cheese mixture. the result? the tiramisu had a teeny weeny bit of too much chocolate than I had planned. It wasn't really what I would consider a tiramisu, so I'm not satisfied! Grr.... meknotnye, minggu depan buat lagik!! haha!

so here's the recipe:

basic tiramisu:

1 block cream cheese, chopped (so the creaming would be easier)
2 eggs, separated the whites and the yolks
1 bowl caster sugar (through I only used 3/4 of it)
300ml whipping/ heavy cream (through I didn't use any)
125ml espresso
10 coffee biscuits (the hard ones)
vanilla essence

so cream the cheese, yolks, and half of the sugar until it is thick. (mampos la nak patah tgn aku pukul cheese ituh!!)

beat the egg whites with the other half of sugar until it form soft peaks. Then beat the whipping cream until light and fluffy*. Fold into the cheese mixture. If you are afraid of the salmonella poisoning, just cook it slowly on a double boiler until it is thicken. (read: medic students are paranoids!!)

wash the biscuits in the espresso and arrange in the container. pour the cheese mixture. add another layer of washed biscuits and pour the remaining mixture.

chilled for at least one hour and sprinkle cocoa powder before serving.

*through mine varied with the addition of melted chocolate and NO whipped cream :(
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watched the band competition with Zaimi, Milla, Juna and Fat (walaupon pegi tgk band, Timah bawak barang cam nak pi picnic! ahaha!). The VI band was not so amazing anymore, much to Zaimi's dismay. they were just prancing around, leaving the bag pipes on the ground most of the tie (through they were the only band with bagpipes). they even took out a rose to dance with the tune of that CINTHA song from Indonesia. personally I think the girl's school were better (the one in purple, semangat cucms!! ahaha).

"bang, nak no phone boleh?" <----- tak boley blah!!

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a couple of things I realized this week:

1. There is a new parking lot in OU that I've never been to (it's actually the hotel's parking lot)
2. I have a bit of short term memory lost, although it's kinda mild
3. I could exercise through cooking (creaming is very tiring)
4. I'm not that freak out of the Professional exams anymore. (is that a good thing??)
5. my weight had reduced to a light 50 kg again (time to stimulate that eating binge again)
   
6. My projects are far from schedule... through thats normal for me.
7. I'm becoming more clumsier since I haven't been outside much.
   

When You Are Bored

currently listening to:

I didn't have much to do today (walaupon Professional exam da dekat!!) . the Ladies are having their ladies tea-party and we're hoping for some leftovers from them, hehe (matilah mengharap) so while waiting, I surf the net and suddenly teringin Shepperd's Pie!!
katelah teros pegi buat!!


so here is the recipe which I whipped up from nowhere (ahaha..)

250mg minced meat (I used chicken's meat)
5 tiny potatoes (dah itu aje yg ade kat umah)
1 medium-soze onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp chilli powder
spices
salt n pepper
2 eggs (saje tambah volume)
butter (sebab tak jumpe minyak)



First, boil the potatoes.

While the potatoes are boiling, heat up the butter and saute the onions with garlic. Then, add in the chilli powder, spices ( hentam letak sume spices) and salt.

Cook it for 1 minute or until it come off nice. Add in the meat and cook until set.










when the potatoes have softened, take it out and MASH away. Throw some pepper & pepper and you are set!







OWH shossh!! (tiru gaye Zaimi) since there wasn't any chick/beef stock, I just used the potatoes' stock (from the boiling) in the meat! haha!







Here's the ingredients before the assembly. we got the meat, mashed potatoes and eggs to add the volume of the pie (teknik shortcut, hehe)








Spread the meat evenly, then pour the eggs. Top off with the mashed potatoes.


forgive the lighting (x gheti sgt gune camera nie)












Spread the potaotes evenly, then make some pattern with a fork. (ikot suke nak buat bentok ape pon)












Then, bake it for about 5 minutes (microwave). I grilled for another 5 minutes for the potatoes to brown abit. It never did get as brown as I wanted but I was getting hungry from the aroma, so what the heck.. makan je laa!! haha!








TADAAAAAAA!!






Siap dah, hehe

It didn't last more than 20 minutes, the four of us (keker,haris,bapak and me) makan sampai licin!! :)

will make it again some time in the future! even through I didn't used the right recipe (which demand vegetables and stock to be added into the pie) it turned out okay. Will make a larger batch next time!! huhu!

(the first bite)

Shepard's Pie used minced lamb . If minced beef is used, it's called Cottage Pie instead.

so what's it called if I used minced chicken???