| Wednesday, May 24, 2006 |
Hi all, I've people telling me that they have only a measuring scale, and some of the recipes uses 'cups' .. But no worries, to convert those, all u need is ... A Calculator Ok. To convert litres to cups, multiply the number of litres by 4.224 (1 litre = about 4 1/2 cups; 2 litres = about 8 1/2 cups), and to convert cups to litres, multiply the number of cups by 0.237. Litres are the same as kilograms.. then u'll just need to do some mathematics and it's done.. 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoon = 1/2 fluid ounce = 14.8 ml 1/4 cup = 4 tbsp = 2 fluid ounces = 59.2 ml 1 cup = 16 tbsp = 8 fluid ounces = 236.8 ml Means, if u need 2 cups of flour and u dont have a measuring cup, just multiply 2 to 0.237 and u get 0.474 Litre.. which means, 474 gm of flour. And to convert grams to ounces, divide grams by 28.35 grams to pounds, divide grams by 453.6 To convert them the other way round, just multiply the number 1 pound = 16 ounces = 453.6 gm 2.2 pounds = 1kg I hope that helps  P/s : remember to write the conversion at the recipe book / paper. So if you need to bake it again, you'll save the hassle of calculating them again Have a nice day |
| Tuesday, May 23, 2006 |
I was just thinking if I need to bake my own Birthday cake or not. that would sound sad if no one buys one for me.. Haha. And, so, I decided to make one for myself, just incase i really didn't have any. (and also to finish off the cream cheese + cream) Ok, cheesecakes has gotta be my favourite among other cakes (that I've eaten). So, Birthday = cheesecake = Nigella This one's baked in water bath, and trust me, the texture was superbly soft! It really is better than the non-baked cheesecakes. Plus, it's not that hard after all. you just wrap 2 large layers of aluminium foil around your tin. So, firstly, prepare the base. 150g of digestive biscuits processed till theyre like crumbs, mixed with 75g of melter butter. The ratio is 2 : 1. But 150g of biscuits would give u a just-thin base. I settled for 200g biscuits 100g butter. Press the biscuits onto the base of a Springform tin, put in the fridge to set. Beat 250g cream cheese gently till it's smooth, then add 75g caster sugar. beat in 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, then finally vanilla extract and some lemon juice. ( I secretly added 1/2 cup of whipping cream, ha) Line the outside of the tin with strong foiled so that it covers the bottom and sides in one large piece ( you might wanna get the extra-large foil) then do it again. Then put it into a roasting dish (should be larger and deep in depth). Pour in the cheesecake to the Springform, then pour in boiling water into the roasing dish, about halfway. Remember not to overfill, u don't wanna risk burning your feet with HOT WATER while lifting it up.. Put into the oven and cook for 40 minutes at 180 C. When it's done, it should feel set but not rigidly so. Whisk in 1 tub of sour cream, 1tbsp caster sugar and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract till smooth and pour over cheesecake. Put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes. When it's done, take the roasting tin out from the over, gently remove the SPringform and put on a rack to cool. When it's cooled completely, put it into the fridge (yes, still with the tin). Bring it out 20 minutes before serving. Plunge a knife into hot water before cutting it. And you get.. this
If you want to double the amount of cheese, make do with 600gm of cream cheese, 3 eggs and 3 egg yolks, and double the rest (sugar, vanilla, lemon juice)
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| Saturday, May 20, 2006 |
Went to Desa Sri Hartamas to pick up flowers for a pre-wedding shoot this sunday (i'm not getting married lah...) then, had lunch next door at Fong Lye Restaurant. They serve Chinese / Taiwanese cuisine. *photos from camera-phone. 0.3 mp. what to do...* *hint hint*  It's just next to As You Like It Flowers. It's behind Fondue House  Knowing that everyone would call tea, they already have mini tea pots fill with tea leavevs and hot water. Before they even take your order, it's on the table already  The cute chopstick holder.  em... not nice.. It was said to be abit spicy. but I can't taste any, I'm sure it's not because of my running nose.. I could still taste other food.  Ok, this one, the sauce is some kinda tomato sauce. the oyster was in moderate size.. New style of oyster omelette I guess, tasted not bad well, I think their dishes should taste better. We ordered noodles cause there were only 2, and we're kinda rushing for time. |
Hello all! I was watching a TVB series "Revolving doors of Vengeance" and then, I suddenly remembered that I had a bar of Lindt left, and some cooking chocolates. So, paused the show and dig out some recipes in Nigella's book, looking for some chocolatey stuffs. Oh well, settled on Brownies. cause now, the Lindt bar is gone and so does antoher 200g of cooking chocolate  Brownies are, of all chocolate cakes, the easiest to make. All you really need is, a deep pan (those that u use to cook instant noodles) No hassle on fixing the mixer, or food processor.. Oh, but u do need a weighing scale of course. and some flour, chocolate eggs, sugar.. I actually halved the recipe as I have insufficient butter. So, if u're serving alot of people, just double it =) Melt 190g soft unsalted butter and 190g best quality dark chocolate in a large pan. Then in a bowl or measuring jug, beat 3 eggs and 150g caster sugar (I also reduced the sugar amount) and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Then get ready 110g plain flour... OH DAMIT !!! NOW THAT I REMEMBER.. I ACTUALLY FORGOT TO REDUCE THE FLOUR AMOUNT!!!! i think i actually added 200g ... but the cake was still good.. hrmmm Anyway, when the chocolate and butter has melted, let it cool abit before beating in eggs and sugar , then 150gm of nuts, then seive in flour and 1 tsp salt. Beat to combine smoothly then scrape out of the saucepan into the lined pan. Bake at 180C for about 20 minutes. But really, just check on it. The top should be dried to a paler brown speckle, but the middle still dark and dense and gooey. But since they still continue to cook as they cool, u can just leave them in the oven for another 10 minutes and let it cool.  Now, really... I don't know if i reduced the flour or not ... It was a bit too densed tho, I must have not.. gosh..How careless of me   My dog was looking at the cakes greedily while I brought it out to snap a pic.. But darling, u can't eat chocolate!!!! and then, made some Chocolate Ganache. very easy. just melt chocolate and stir in cream. thats about it.. I got sick of finding double cream or anything.. Just make it..  You know what would have been the extra point!?!? VANILLA ICE CREAM !!! YUMMM *I don't care, I'm buying a tub of ice cream tomorrow* |
| Monday, May 15, 2006 |
Another Mother's day celebration, this time only among ourselves. hehe. We had three choices, Chungdinh vietnam @ one bangsar, Jogoya @ Starhill or Koryo-won @ Starhill. We settled for korean food instead (yay!) The only time I've eaten Korean food is in Hartamas. So, I guess picking KoRyo-Won would be a good choice. Haha. Furthermore, the Feast Village in Starhill offers a grrreat variety of food, so even if we can't make it to korean food, there'll be others to choose from. We wanted Asian cuisine, but not so chinese (has been eating out for the pass 2 months, most of the time, chinese 'tai chao'.. had to take a break) Right, Koryo-won means elegant garden. They offer the finest smoked barbeque cuisine in Klang Valley (as said by starhillgallery.com, but I had to agree as well, it was fantastic!)
some of the appetizers served. there're quite a variety, don't be afraid to ask for more, cause it's allowed!
Korean Pancake. it's really nice compared to the one we ate in Hartamas (can't remember which restaurant though) It was light, crispy and not too starchy. And the sauce u see on the right. They're good as well, but I kinda expected a more generous serving.
oh man! i forgot, there's Lamb too. That's Korean style barbeque. I don't know how authentic is it, but, well, maybe it's their way. The chicken and lamb was peppery, saltiness was just right, chicken texture was just fine. the lamb was just a little bit too tender. probably overcooked or something.
We ordered hot-pot soups as well. one spicy and another one not. just in chicken broth. both were awesome!! *tip* scoop kimchi soup + veges in a bowl, add rice into it, mix, EAT. was darn good. spicy, sourish, sweet. Overall, dinner was great. only thing is, the rice and green tea's over-priced. RM5 for a bowl of rice and RM8 for a cup of green tea (refillable). Ambience was nice as well, I mean, who could resist Feast Village right ? It's so darn beautiful. just at any corner. more pics Here |
| Sunday, May 14, 2006 |
Happy Mothers Day to all mothers We were invited to a BBQ party in my uncle's house for a mother's day celebration. I wanted to make a cake, as my aunty asked me a week ago if I'm going to make any cakes for Mother's Day. So, after some consideration, I settled for the Boston Cream Pie. It's not a PIE actually, it's a cake. The story of the cake is that, in 1850, the pastry chef at Boston's Parker House Hotel (an American gastronomic hotbed) had the brainware of adding a bitter chocolate glaze to a 'Boston Pie' - a custardy layer-cake affair - and for some reason, the addition of the chocolate brought the word 'cream' into play. This is actually a variation from the Victorian Sponge. So, first, ready a batch of Victorian Sponge. Then, u'd need to make two mixtures . icing (chocolate glaze) and creme patissiere. While the sponge are in the oven, you can make creme patissiere. Warm 125ml milk and 125ml double cream along with 1 vanilla pod split lengthwise. Bring to the boil, then remove from heat, cover and let stand to infuse for 10 minutes. If you're not using the pod, add 1 tsp vanilla extract later when u've combined all in the other ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk 3 large egg yolks and 50g caster sugar till creamy, then beat in 15g plain flour. Add this warm milk to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour back into the saucepan and stir on whisk gently over a low heat until the custard thickens. Remove from heat and let custard cool. When the cakes and creme patissiere are cool, you can make the chocolate ganache. Warm 150ml double cream, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 teaspoon unsalted butter with 150g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces, and bring to a boil in a thick-bottomed saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk till smooth and thickened. Let cool a little before using. Right. So, what I did was, I spreaded the creme patissiere on the sponge cake, added some strawberries, then layered another sponge cake on top, then pour chocolate ganache on to it. But little did I know, whipping cream and double cream makes a damn huge difference. My creme and ganache were runny in texture. From what I understand, double cream is thicker and creamier than whipping cream, thus, makes the mixtures harder to thicken. get ? The thing is, I don't know where to buy double cream!! I might be non-observant enough to look for certain ingredients. So, if u happen to see DOUBLE CREAM FOR SALE, please let me know ok ? thanks  see the runny creme. it's suppose to be thick, but mine was a bit watery, it doesnt quite stay at a place. PLUS! the chocolate ganache was runny too, cause whipping cream was used instead of double cream. so, basically I kinda had to freeze the cake before leaving. I over-estimated myself. I thought I could finish the cake within an hour. but, no. I mean, if I used double cream, then, I probably could, but I took up to almost 2 hours instead. Had to wait for the creme and ganache to thicken. and STILL it wasn't thick enough. But nevertheless, the cake was good. Cause it beat another Peach Crumble Cake (by another aunty's) hee hee. Mine was left with a quarter, hers was say, about.. half ? cause mine had strawberries and Assorted Beryls Chocolate nuts mah  Happy Mom's Day  |
| Friday, May 12, 2006 |
Hello everyone, First of all, Happy Wesak Day and Happy Mothers Day in advance. I was so into making something new and 'adventurous' today, so while flipping through Nigella's How To Be a Domestic Goddess, I saw this Pistachio Macaroons. It looks very nice and delicious. From what I read in other food-bloggers site, macaroons are quite a kick in the a**. It's not so easy to handle. So, being an amateur, I failed on my first attempt on making what might be the best-looking elegant macaroon. *sigh* Let's analyse and see what went wrong.. Nigella said "Grind the pistachios in a food processor along with icing sugar, until as fine as dust. Whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff, but not dry, sprinkle the caster sugar over and whisk until very stiff. Fold the whites into the pistashio-sugar dust, and combine gently. Pipe small rounds onto your lined baking sheet, using a plain 1cm nozzle. Let them sit for about 10 minutes to form a skin. Then put in the oven and cook for 10-12 mins at 180 C" right, so basically it's only pistachio, sugar and egg whites. sounds easy huh ? I guess that the egg whites weren't THAT VERY stiff, cause when I folded the pistachio-sugar dust in, it became abit watery and wasn't that stiff. *ching!!!!* Now that I'm typing it out, it said "fold the whites into the pistachio-sugar dust" .. i kinda did it the other way round. Does that affect the stiffness of the egg whites ? What do you think ?
I knew this wasn't going to be right.. -.-"
It became.. gooey melted pistachio flavoured sugar
yes, that's right. But, I already made the pistachio buttercream. HOW ? HOW ? So, made a Victorian Sponge Cake from HTBADG (was suppose to make the Boston Cream Pie tho, but since I have so much of buttercream, just settle for a Victorian Sponge Cake with Pistachio Buttercream and strawberries (what a combi.) So, for Victorian Sponge, ! food-processor-fool-proof-recipe-and-method ! 225g unsalted butter, very soft Put in all ingredients in the food processor except for milk. Pulse it till u've got a smooth batter. Then add in milk gradually through the funnel till your cake mixture's soft. Pour and scrape the batter into 2 x 21cm tins and bake for about 25 minutes at 180 C. When done, leave them on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out and cool completely. So, this is a multi-purpose sponge cake. use it anyhow u like. eat it plain, eat it with cream, or spread some jam in the middle and add some raspberries, or do cream cheese icing, perhaps chocolate ganache. or, I don't know, It's totally up to u. so my variation is with pistachio buttercream!
Quite messly done. was on the way out! hehe -- edited--- 13th may
made from left over chocolate ganache and beryls nuts. Little brother complained that I left a nicer looking cake at my uncle's place. He wanted a nice one at home too. (that's the existing pistachio buttercream victorian sponge) |
