Owh Gosh!!

here's some of the pics of my latest creation...



thanks to Fini for telling me I could use an A4 paper for easier handling of the cake.

~malam abis lah kot kek nie~

through it doesn't look that nice due to erm... cincai punye potong... hehe...but it taste quite okay. the strawberry flavor wasn't too strong, the crust was slightly too sweet. will reduce the sugar next time.


Milla said it was good, so that's a relief.. haha... she took some of em 'home' and the rest was history that night... hehehe

one thing I learned in making this cake is that using aluminum foil would be much easier than A4 paper. ah well, there's always next time. Would definitely try to make some more chilled cheesecake in the future.

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on other news,

I'm joining the Sakit Belakang club with Husna! hehehe... seriously I have been having this sharp pain at the lumbar region for more than 3 weeks already... (sekse takbley buat position maut lagik!! ciss!!) Mr. Azlan said it might be a slipped disk... matilah aku...

Prof. Hamdan have been asking me to cook at his house for a long time now... I'm considering his offer...hmm... what should I cook ah?? any ideas people??

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okayh, next recipe to tackle is;

Cranberry Mousse



(you can find the recipe from the website; http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com or just click the picture)

lalalallala~~

Cheesecake Blunder

Aside from tiramisu, I've never made a non-bake cheesecake before. Come to think of it, I should just be confident as I've made tiramisu before, right? I mean, it's the same concept (a cheesecake), right? haih....

I wanted to recreate the Secret Recipe's Yogurt Cheesecake for Milla (tgk, aku baik tau). I got the genereal idea, what to do for each layer, but when I was making it, due to some problems, the ideas went down the drain as I panicked my way through the whole process!! so here's what happened;

ingat nak buat macam nie...

The first problem was, based on what I've read last week, most of the non-bake cheesecake demands an incorporation of gelatine in the cake batter. It is almost impossible for me to get a hold of this stuff here in cyberjaya. Gelatine is made from piggies (thus making it a BIG NO-NO) and through there are now bovine sources, if there is no Halal sticker on it, I wouldn't buy it. At home, I could find some pectin to replace gelatine, but here... aih.. wahh.. dilemma... finally, I just bought an agar-agar powder to replace it (pandai tak).

then came the process of making the actual cake, Problem two: I've made too much crust with 10 pieces of digestive cookies. so what did I do? just tepek all of it into the mould!! (kes tanak bazir... but Adi said he wouldn't want too much crust in his cheesecake... hummm..) I've also (dengan pandai tak hengatnyer) used a thin plastic bowl to mix everything. Bad mistake, the plastic was cracked and punctured here and there when I was done with the whole thing. Guess the blades from the mixer was too strong for the plastic (my mum's gonna kill me when she finds out about this... ahh...) So, as I was preparing the batter, I realized there is no fresh milk in the fridge. So my quick-thinking reflex was to throw in some strawberry milk instead! Problem three: the batter is now strawberry flavored when I wanted it to be a plain one! Fine, fine... then I proceed to the next step: putting in some agar-agar powder. the whole 10g of powder was for 1 litre of water. First, I just dissolve around 3/4 of the content (about three teaspoon). Mix it all up... then I realise it was kinda slurry and runny... I was like, "owh shit... can it really hold after assembling all the layer? Will it hardens in the fridge? why is it runny?? Is the batter more than 1 litre? should I put in more agar-agar mix?" (my housemates must have been annoyed since I asked every minute if the cake can hold... haha...) Sorry mates, I had a panic attack... In the end, as I was going to pour the batter into the mould, the panicked me (blame nadj, okeyh!!) pour all of the agar-agar mix into the batter....

habislah jadik macam nie kot...

around 10 minutes later, I realized the agar-agar mix take a while to hardens, and it's normal to be slurry and runny in the first 15 minutes!!!! the SHOCK!!! shoott!! and the cheese mixture was just 100ml shy of reaching 1 litre. There's also cheese in it (duh-uh) that'll help to solidify the cake! damn, I'm in trouble!! so, Problem four: may have put too much agar-agar powder! Hope it wont be to hard! waaaaaaaaaa.... then, I remembered the yogurt layer wasn't done yet and it was supposed to be hold together by some more bits of agar-agar which I had completely used up! *gasp*


AAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!


hope I can get it together, somehow...
it's in the fridge now... tommorow's gonna be a moment of truth, seriously.

matilah besok tgk kek tak jadik!!

but the best part is; Adi said he'll take the blame if the cake tak jadik.. hehehe (jahat tak aku... ahaha)

so here's the recipe (yg konon2 dibuat... really should have followed it!!!)

Crust:
6 digestive biscuits
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 stick melted butter (around 70g)

Cheese Filling:
250 g cream cheese
100 g sugar
200 ml whipping cream (whipped)
150 ml fresh milk
7 g agar-agar (around 3 teaspoon)

Yogurt layer:
2 cups yogurt (thickened)
20 ml milk
3 g agar-agar

method:

prepare the crust and chill.

cream the cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the cheese. boil the milk and add the gelatine/ agar-agar until the powder dissolve. remove from heat and pour into the cheese mixture.

pour the cheese mixture onto the crust and refrigerate for at least two hours.

thicken the yogurt by putting it into a thin cloth and hang overnight. (it should be all thick like the Greek style yogurt) Boil the 20ml milk with the remaining agar-agar. Mix the two up and spread over the cake. Chill until serve.

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suddenly, I wish I can make this as well... a Japanese strawberry shortcake (my fav)

matilah sume kek nak letak strawberry!

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EDIT:

looked at the cake just now, it's kinda.... cake-y... and not agar-agar like (thank God!!) so now the problem is to make the yogurt layer... hurm....

too bad Adi's camera isn't running... kalo tak dah post the pics.

One-sided

was browsing through the net just now when I stumbled upon clips of sunathon 07 by fellow med students from Russia. Through I didn't go along with the trip, it was fun to see the clips and how most of them (actually all of them) enjoyed it. Majority says they would want to participate in the event again next year. (maybe we could all meet eh??)

but that's besides the point.

In some of the clips there were comments by-judged by their nickname-I'll take a wild guess that they're americans. Some were, slanting the act of circumcision while others try to understand how and why is circumcision performed. some of the negative comments even drag down the women's rights issue on circumcision in Islamic countries. normally, I'd be okay with this kind of reaction. It's normal for them to react in such away as they don't have the same culture . Heck, I've even been discussing about the very issue with some friends of mine.


what bothers me, is that, it seems they're only questioning us (as in Muslims) but not the others. sure the circumcision issue have been debated over the human rights, the babies rights, and power held by the parents. But the eyes have always been towards us whereas other religions condoning such acts are not really "starred at". The Islamophobia isn't helping either. So, it saddens me to see how in 'our' circumcision clips there are bangings and questions, but in the israeli circumcision clips there were even praises. some even said they regret not being circumcised yet. truly, a revelation is it? *sigh*

and that's just circumcision, I haven't even talked about the nuclear power thing. how can the world be so one-sided???

ouh, and it seems the israeli-palestine issue haven't been on the news lately. so what really happen with the peace treaty? having been violated countless of times by the israeli soldiers. do we need to wait until there's massive killing with full-fledge coverage from the media around the world.

let us all pray for our brothers and sisters to end their suffering.

A New Face

yeay!

finally, after numerous trials, my blog have a new face. Iit's almost brand new again! hehe. Thanks miLLa for helping me out, I'm totally hopeless with the html thing. (sile tgk die mencapapkan namenye kat bawah page ini...... lariiikkkk) love the header, makes me want to bake again! hahaha strawberry tart, fruit tartlets, cupcakes & pastries!! (tercabar nie belom buat cupcakes lagik)
Let's see; I've got strawberries, whipped cream, strawbery milk, digestive biscuits, some bits of butter...I'm already getting ideas... wheww.. naseb baek takde oven kat rumah nie....

note to self: hello, PRO exams!!

now,
all I need to do is belanja milla a cheesecake, hurm... secret recipe boleh?? haha

Issues

i woke up in the middle of the night

starring at the ceiling

for hours

thinking

on life
on stress
on weight
on exams
on love
and such

it got my gut twisted

and my heart cringe

when i hear all the voices

eyes dried up from straining

immobilize sore limbs

i lie in bed

uncovered

beneath the shaded moonlight

till dawn breaks

a new day begins

but all i could ever wish,

i wish september would just go away

you are driving me insane,


pls just GO!!

Just Another Emo post

in light of the Holy Month's eve, I'd not use any 'eff" words tonight (and throughout the month)

Okay,
I'd have to admit my actions (and words) are definitely not a pious statement. Some family members I know think it's a shame to the family name. (like I care to what they think) what bugs me is when people have this prejudicial stereotype that I'm one of those SINNERS, destined to burn in the hereafter, not worthy of doing anything related to religious ceremonies or celebration (minor ones). Just what the hell is your problem? Do I look that bad? Do you think I am just a piece of trash to MY GOD? Is that why I'm not told if there's any religious meeting? nor any religious update news? nor am I included in most religious event? Am I deemed unworthy of such?

owh, and letting me know through secondary tale there's a religious event to rip that guilt of not delivering me the news? haha... that's just classic. It's all " there's no time, it's already too late to get ready, there's no religious clothes for me to wear, yadda, yadda, yadda..."

CRAP

Just because I don't listen to what preachers say outside of the praying time, it doesn't mean I'm lesser than you. in fact, there are loads of examples where this-so-called pious men who go to preachers (usrah if you would like to call it) drink booze, goes clubbing and perform adultry. that the far end of the spectrum, if you want some milder examples; think

a) flirtatious men (who went to usrah)
b) bribing men (who went to religious forums)
c) hypocrites (who attends religious meetings all the same)
d) many others (malas nak type lagik)


and then there is the dilemma of the damned transportation. Wish I could have the car earlier, so I don't have to bear with all of this. ~Public isn't so good now~

*this entry have been a little bit stretched out from the real situation, but the thinking is there;





selamat menyambut Ramadhan Al-Mubarak

can't hardly wait for Raya ~ forgive, sounds good, forget-- I dont think I could, they say... (breaks off in some song written by a christian--very typical of me, muahks)

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NOTE: please don't get all excited and think I'm mad at you or any other individuals out there. I'm just pissed with the stereotype thinking of the community in general. It's just by chance that the scenario written above happened to me. Remember; It's never about the sample, it's always about the population, aight?

How to Keep Smiling When You're Thinking of Killing Yourself

currently listening to: Uninvited by Alanis Morrisette

So. 9/11, it's been six years already.

while the Americans celebrated what now seems to be an annual event for false tears and plenty of booze to choke on, not to mention the opportunity for the politicians to get some voters from the clueless population I'm stuck here counting the days when we had fun until the very last day. it have been one hell of a week. trough I could care less that last-minute works pile down on me, there were times when i get all lonely and starts thinking of you.

owh, why did you have to go??

the moment I took that hand was the moment I got more than I could handle.

sometimes, I just let it well up, but it never came down. All of it was reabsorbed and poisons me once again.

I wanna be big and let go

I really need a box of chocolates now

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" President George W Bush, who in past years has laid a wreath at the site and made a speech, observed a moment of silence at the White House. "

sure-sure *rolling eyes*

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cheers to the saph