Hi all,
this is my first Hay Hay Donna Day!! It started of here and they made Peanut Butter Cupcakes. Do check out Donna Hay's website. u sure can find lotsa stuffs there.

I bought myself 2 Donna Hay's cook magazine some time ago. it was really nice, filled with awesome mouthwatering food and they seem to be simple enough that amateurs could make it.. well thats if u can find the appropriate ingredients. =P

Glutton Rabbit of Pearl of the Orientis the host for #2 and she set the theme, Macaroons.. Macaroons is basically made from sugar, eggwhite and desiccated coconut. I'm not really a coconut person, but i did a few of macaroons over the weekend. it's pretty easy, there's no need of mixer, or ... blender or what.. just a big bowl, and a spatula... and of course the oven and baking trays.

So, the original recipe was a Lime Macaroon. This's made by Glutton Rabbit

Lime Macaroons
2 cups desiccated coconut
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1 ½ tablespoon shredded lime zest (** replace this with your own ingredient)

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place the coconut, sugar, egg whites and lime zest in a bowl and mix to combine. Roll the mixture into balls. Place on a lined baking tray, flatten slightly and cook for 10-12 minutes or until light golden. Serve with coffee. Makes 15.

so for me, i made 3 types of macaroons... i made the mixture of desiccated coconut, sugar and egg whites.. divided into 3 and...

The first one, is Chocolate Macaroons.
I know some macaroons are splitted into half.. or, being sandwiched where there's filling in between. but er.. i was much of a coconut fan, so making it into a sandwich would look pretty big..

i baked the plain macaroons, then poured some chocolate ganache (leftover from Temptation Oreo) and waited for it to melt... it's really nice, cause the chocolate melted over the desiccated coconut... leaving it not so dry... which was good..

The second type, Cherry Macaroons!
I used the same plain macaroon mixture, scooped it into small baking cups.. and put a cherry in the middle.. i thought this was really cute.. the colour contrast between the cherry and macaroon was quite obvious.. it pretty much looked like a toy or something... ahha.. oh.. maybe something for valentines eh ?

and the third, Cinnamon honey Macaroons
now u think i'm nuts, dont u?? i wanted to make a "nut" macaroon, but i couldnt find the nuts.. so, i made cinnamon instead... with cinammon, i thougt that ... applesauce would be so good.. but my house ran out of apples... i ddint make it... i added honey for an extra sweetness..

i dint quite measure the amount of cinnamon i put in...  i was just ... "open cap, pour some, smell good, ok" type of thingy.. u know.. ehhehe..i added the honey after it's baked..

this macaroon, however, was a bit dry..

alright.. so, there goes my Hay Hay It's Donna Day #2 entry..

Glutton Rabbit will do a round-up after 24th.. so visit her page, and vote!!

it's been some time eh ? well this oreo cheesecake was made like, some days back, but i ddint upload the pics and was busy watching anime..

Recipe
Cake Base
200g Oreo biscuits finely crushed
50g butter

Filling
(A)
750g Cream Cheese
130 Sugar

(B)
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

(C)
3 eggs

(D)
200g whipping cream

(E)
15pieces oreo sandwich cookies, quartered

Method
1. Mix the biscuit base ingredients until well blended. Press onto bottom of 8" springform tin. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until firm. Bake at 160 C for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool
2. Cream (A) until smooth. add (B) and cream until well blended
3. Add (C) one at a time and cream until smooth
4. Add (D) and cream until well combined. Add (E) and stil until well mixed.
5. Pour the cheese filling over the prepared biscuit base
6. Bake at 160 C for 50 minutes or until centre is almost set. TUrn off the oven and leave the cake cool in the oven with the door slightly open for 1 hour.
7. Run a small knife around the rim of the pan to loosen the cake. Set aside to cool.
8. Cover the cake and refrigerate for 5 hours or overnight.
9. Unmould the cake. Pour some ganache in the centre. Refrigerate it for 2 hours to let the ganache set.

the ingredients we pretty simple. but the steps are really time take. cause u have to wait for it to chill first.. and so and so and so.

i think 750g cheese is too much.. next time i should change to 500g.. cause the cake turned out thick and it's abit "geli, jelak" if u eat the whole piece..

ok. i think i have the urge to start making chinese pastry.. expecialy when Chinese New Year is around the corner. since Mel's Pastry Book was still with me, i tried the Pandan Spiral Pastry. which seemed to be.. pretty easy.. hehe

this time, the pastry was easier than Puff Pastry, because there's no need to get a Pastry Margerine, and u dont need to wait a century before u start baking the pastry!

Usually chinese pastries use Water Dough and Oil Dough. it's abit like Puff Pastry, where the normal dough is Water Dough, and the pastry margerine is Oil dough, get it ?? ah... take a look at the recipe first.

Water Dough
120g Flour
35g Shortening
20g Sugar
55g Water
some green food colouring

Oil Dough
100g Flour
60g Shortening
some green food colouring

Filling
800g Pandan Lotus Paste

TIP : When rolling the dough, do not dust too much flour as it will cause the dough to dry out.

Method:
Water Dough: Mix all the ingredients to form a smooth dough and let it rest for 20 mintues (the dough is a bit sticky, after 20 minutes, it seems abit.. elastic.. haha) 
Oil Dough: Mix all the ingredients to form a smooth paste. (use hands to press it, roll it until all the crumbles stick together)

Pandan Lotus Paste

before entering the oven.

1. DIvide the pandan lotus paste into 10 parts of 80g each.
2. Roll out the water dough into a rectangulaar shape and place the oil dough on the center. Wrap the oil dought up with the water dough.
3. Roll out the dough and fold in halves
4. Roll it into a thin sheet about 2mm thick. Roll it up like a Swiss Roll. Cut into 10 pieces. (MAke sure it's really thin. then your pastry will look very nice)
5. With the cut side facing up, roll it into a round shap. Then wrap in the lotus paste.
6. Bake at 200 C for 25 minutes.  

it wasnt as "layering" as the one in the book

this one was the closest to how it looked like in the book .. (still very far away though)

see the spiral thingy ??? it should be like that ...

but nevertheless, the pastry was flaky and crispy.. i think a lil salt would be nice

i thought i was TOO GREEN tho.. hehe

yeah, u should not cut straight away after its out from the oven, or else the pandan paste will stick onto your knife.. wait for abt 30 mins, the u can have a nice clean cut.

"ring.. ring.. come to mama-tail.. i'm your new beard papa.. Ho ho ho"

just kidding. i saw most food bloggers have already gone to Beard Papa.. wait.. is it beard papa or bread papa..  anyway.. out of curiosity.. i made my own custard cream puff..  <-- smiley too exaggerating =)

i like custard puffs.. it's sweet. its cheap.. it's delicious.. it's better than other buns. yea.. so i decided to get the Pastry Book from miss Mel who's currently suffering from a Uni-syndrome..

As u know.. these kinda pastry is usually made from Choux Puff. the texture of it is light and puffy, which is quite different from other pastries. As it forms a cavity inside the pastry, So, which means, it's best stuffed with fillings

There're 2 types of recipes for choux pastry, 1 is firmer, another one is softer. i went for the firmer one.

Choux Pastry Recipe
95 g butter
160g water
1/2 tsp sugar
pinch of salt

130g flour

3 eggs

Method
1. Cook butter, water and sugar until boil. Add in flour and mix to form a smooth paste.
2. Put the paste into the mixer and beat until lukewarm. Add in the eggs in gradually. Beat it until well blended and smooth
3. Place the batter into the piping bag fitted with plain or any nozzle u wish. Pipe onto a greased pan
4. Bake at 200 C for 20-25 mins.
5. Pour Custard Cream into piping bag with nozzle. poke the nozzle into the puff and press the custard cream in. Becareful not to over-fill it, or else, when u bite, all the cream will pour out.. HaHa

Extra note : THe amount of eggs will determine the consistency of the paste. Adding more eggs gives you a softer paste which will result in a thinner crust, and using fewer eggs gives you a stiffer paste making a thicker crust when baked.

looks like mashed potatoe?? this is step 1.

this is step 2

nothing so amazing right ?? scroll down..

look at how big it is now.. looks like.. pau

this one looks like fried pau or smething.. ahhaha...

Custard Cream Recipe
1 Egg
30g Sugar
20g Custard Powder

100g Milk
100g Whipping Cream

1/2 tst Vanilla Essence

Method
1. Mix egg, sugar and custard powder until well blended. Cook milk and whipping cream until almost boiling (remember to stir), then add gradually into the egg sugar custard mixture. Stir till well combined
2. Strain it and cook over low heat by stirring constantly until it boils and thickens. Remove from the heat and add vanilla essence. Mix well.
3. Cover the pot with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Leave it to cool.

it looks like this after injecting the cream in it..

Final Verdict: YUMM YUMM... ok... i havent taste beard papa's puff before. but obviously i can't compare mine with breadpapa's..  but anyway, my testers both all gave good remarks abt it. but i was thinking maybe the puff was a whee lil too thin, cause when the puff has too many cream in it, the bottom of the puff tend to break..

tadaaaa ... custard cream puffffffsssss ... yummyyyy

p/s.. it's really very easy to make..

pronounced as Bakers Inn. founded by Daniel Tay. was established in Singapore in Millenia Walk back in 2000, serving a wide range of food and beverages from quality French cakes, pastries and bread to delectable food like soup, salad, sandwich, pizza, pasta and bruschetta. Now it has 5 outlets in Singapore, 4 in Indonesia, 1 in Thailand and 2 in Malaysia (Bangsar Village and 1 Utama new wing)

great. the outlet in 1-u is so damn bloddy posh, from the walkway.. i went to the one in Bangsar Village yesterday. i had dinner in Basil thai nudle bar.. then on the way back, stopped by Bakerzin n bought 2 cakes back home.

to warn u first, it's quite pricey.

Chocolate Amer
Flourless chocolate sponge layer with bitter chocolate mousse

New York Cheesecake
Cream cheese covered with strawberry glaze and toped with seasonal fruits

they tasted.. FANTASTIC.. my god.. the cheesecake was damn good. the texture was creamy, soft yet it does not has a strong cheese smell. the strawberry glaze on top was just good to give it an extra sweet sourish kinda taste.

as for Choco amer, the mousse was creamy as well.. it's bitter.. oh well cause it's bitter choc mousse.. but the thing is ... i couldnt taste the sponge layer.. cause its kinda thin..

i would love to go back there for another visit... if it wasnt that unproportionately pricey. i mean, i wouldnt mind paying 11 for a slice of cake, but, i was hoping that the portion could be bigger.. and not smaller than secret recipe's or fruity's... much smaller anyway..

ok la.. when i have extra money, i'd definitely go back there for a dine-in...

p/s : u know, i wouldnt mind working there

Just Thai or also known as Thai Nudle House & Cafe is located at Rainforest, 1-Utama. As usual, 1-U is my fave shopping mall together with Sweesan during our usual nothing-to-do. Typically, our nothing-to-do will end up filling our tummies with yummy foodies.

So, this time, the yummy foodies came from the kitchen of Just Thai. Well, this isnt our first attempt as the first attempt was probably too long ago and we couldnt even remember when was the last visit. But, we surely realised that the menu has changed. There were more varieties previously and the menu wasnt a piece of recycle paper. It was a proper menu previously!

Here's the menu but we couldnt point out what is missing??!!!

For once, the mobile phone camera resolution proves fine quality! At least you can read the menu!

Alright, next, let's look at the interior before the food is served. OK?

It's actually quite cosy. There are pillows! But of coz, no couch for you. Just wooden seatings...

Sweesan ordered this! Pineapple Fried Rice. It's one of Chef's recommendation. Well, its not too bad. Its quite nice but let me give you some tips, the Pineapple Fried Rice in Barn Thai (also in 1-U) is better! *thumbs up*

My order! Stir-fried Flat Noodles with Prawns. Flat noodles? Donno what's that? So do i. Well, of coz i know now. It looks abit like kuey teow but thinner and flatter version and i think its nicer than kuey teow. Its spicy, sour and sweet. Unlike fried kuey teow. You know what, there were only about 2 to 3 prawns. But, taste wise, its good. Try it! Something different. The portion may look small but its actually very filling.

But the pineapple fried rice surely was a smaller portion. It looked big because of the pineapple and Sweesan ended up buying extra food when we continued our jalan-jalan.

Oh ya, the curry puffs from Chang Kee, somewhere at the Rainforest are quite nice! No photos taken as we were busy munching. Haha...

*weighs self on the weighing scale..OMG! shocked till death! Ok, that's exaggerating because i'm still alive..haha*

Was never missing. Was never away. Just procastinating. Its me, im talking about.

This is my very first entry in 2006 and surely is a very late one. This is an entry of soya bean pudding with longan. Initially, the plan was mango pudding but i couldnt get any ripe mango. Alright it was a sponstaneous decision to make mango pudding and went straight to Giant with dearest Sweesan at night. mmm....no fancy mangoes so plan switched to Soyabean instead.

Very simple. Buy any jelly powder, follow the instruction and substitute soyabean instead of plain water. Add longan in the pudding.

Also, cartoonise the paper cups. Would definitely cheer the guinea pigs who are going to eat your pudding. Look at what i've done:

And i especially like the third cup from left. Is it left? mmm...yes, left! The one who long eyelashes and carries a shy look.

Anyway, the cups are not edible. What's edible is in the cup. Like this.

Its really very simple. Check it out! And its quite yummy. A good treat for late night supper when you're starving from hunger during online hours.