I will skip the cupcake recipe and go straight to the fondant.  But before I do that, I die-die also want to post up my double chocolate cupcake.  The fresh bake makes my kitchen smells heavenly!

The cracks on the cake tells that they are a bit dry.

Pre-made fondant can be purchase from bakery shops but they are so easy to made that you can save money by making it yourself and keep the bragging rights of having made it all from scratch, right?  There are many different type of fondant you can google from internet.  So I just pick one that is the simplest.

Ingredients:
15g powdered gelatin
60ml water
10ml liquid glucose or corn syrup
1tbsp glycerin
500gm icing sugar

Method:

Sprinkle gelatin in the bowl of water and let it soak for 2 minutes. Use double boiler to dissolve it for about 2 minutes.  Use a wooden spoon instead of a metal spoon cos the metal spoon will make your fondant turn black (not really black but your fondant’s colour won’t be snowy white).  Remove gelatin and add a tablespoon of glycerin.  Some recipe said it is optional but I think it’s a must if you want your fondant to be smooth.  Make a well on the icing sugar.   Pour gelatin in it and stir them into a dough.  Jeng, jeng, jeng, it’s showtime!

You need plenty of icing sugar for dusting as they are very very sticky and make sure you have a clean work top.  Knead your dough for few more minute.  Tips:  prepare the dough the night before so that they will be less sticky and easier to work on the next day.  Leave them in a zipper bag.  I did a mistake by keeping them in the fridge.  The next day, they are as hard as stone.  I have to cut them into pieces before heating up in the microwave again.  And they are so sticky I almost gave up!

You just need some creativity with the fondant.  I get this fondant mat from Michael’s (U.S.).  They produces very nice vines to your fondant.

And the process goes on for about 2.5 hours before I get this result.

My first ever attempt in fondant, ok.

Of course can’t beat the work of professional.

Promise you won’t laugh, ok?

Jeng, jeng, jeng:

High School Musical cupcakes!

Someone’s birthday is around the corner *rolling eye*.

p/s:  Smells good.  Looks good.  But I never say they taste good.  wakakaka

I’ve made Konnyaku Jelly again. Not because I am craving for them, but because I bought a new Mickey Mouse mould. Woot! This time, I’d prefer to leave them in their original clear transparent colour and also using canned fruits. As usual, please refer to the cooking instruction behind the packaging.

Talking about canned fruits especially the cocktail, I’ve learnt a lesson. Never buy the cheapest brand on the shelf. There was once, the kiamsiapness (stingy) in me bought the cheapest brand which still costs me about RM6. I was so dissapointed with the content as they are full of pineapples! This time round, I grabbed the 2nd cheapest – Ligo Brand that cost me RM8.10 in Jaya Jusco. Surprisingly, they are full of pears and peaches! However, the pineapple can hardly be seen. I will keep on trying other brands tho. I never know buying a can of fruit cocktail can be this is challenging. You’ve never know what to expect in the can until you’ve open them up. Don’t know should be happy or not.

Can you spot the Mickey shape? You just have to try harder if you can’t see them. Other than having them cool in the konnyaku mould, I had some of the liquid pour into the kid’s bento box for tomorrow lunch. It is not a good idea to remove the jellies from the mould. Once you do that, they will slowly turn watery.

I woke up pretty early one fine morning and had the left over rice fried with salted fish. The kitchen was quickly fill up with pungent smell so early in the morning I was so afraid the neighbour will start swearing. I felt so fresh cos it is indeed quite aromatic! I added some raisins into it for fiber and had them wrapped up in thin egg like the nasi pattaya.

A little dessert on the side – I had freshly cut organic zucchini and triangle juicy and sweet watermelon.

*Back dated and brief post*

My Dad celebrated his 70th Birthday last many many weekend ago.

All went as usual. We had 10 course dinner in Unique Fisherman, Cheras. Location: after Leisure Mall. Food was good. We came here specially for their penis Geoduck Clam (pronounce as gooeyduck) since my Eldest sister has been bitching about this penis elephant trunk Geoduck thingy we thought we must try at least once. And of course the way my Sister elaborate the penis Geoduck size really make us so curious.

Live penis Geoduck. hehe…

To savour this, I am not sure if they even remove the yellowish skin from the penis Geoduck. It was then sliced into thin pieces.

You can either eat them raw with wasabi or blanch them in hot water aka steamboat. I would preferred them raw. They tasted something like sea cucumber and is really good!

This is the look of the shell.

Dad have this habit to say out loud his Birthday wishes. He don’t make a simple wish. He always include all of us, his Wife, his daughters, his son-in-laws and grandchildrens.

But there is this one wish that make all of us rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-out-loud. What is Dad’s special wish this year? He hope that our little Sister will get hitch this year! All of us was woo-ing so loud.

On an unrelated topic:

Ahem! And I had something new to show you guys.

My.New.Curl.

Previously I had a very long waist length hair and now, the hair stylist had them trimmed 3 inches shorter and she layered them wayyyyyyyyyyyyy to much! I really hate it! Just because she like it, doesn’t mean I will like them. And she have the courage to say, “I thought I wanna change your hairstyle a bit.” You say fuming mad or not?

Today marked the first day of school after 2 weeks of school break. I was so tired that I can’t drag myself up from bed to prepare anything for the kids. One reason is because of the petrol hiked price. No motivation to go to work even and I almost didn’t want to update anything in my blog. Since morning, I just wish that the hiked price is just a dream. And that calculator keep on showing me the same figure. That figure! Even after the rebates of RM625.00 from the Government, I still need to fork out RM1.2k extra per year. *sigh…

Back to the topic, this is post dated Bento box I’ve prepared for Hubby since the kids is having a 2 weeks school break. The night before, I was thinking what type of adult food that is suitable to serve in a bento box. Since I have tiny (very very tiny) anchovies which I’ve bought from my previous trip to Pulau Ketam and organic cucumber lying in the fridge, I thought maybe I should prepare some ‘fake’ nasi lemak.

Rice – coconut milk = ‘Fake’

Which is the factor of a good nasi lemak? Should it be the perfection of rice or the sambal. I would say the sambal. However, the sambal didn’t do justice in the pic. I had the anchovies fried in oil till crispy and drizzled with some sugar. I couldn’t find a tea cup as the mould for the rice so I just the triangle onigiri.

For dessert, we had tulips watermelon. So childish can die!

For my portion, this is how my bento looks like.

I had a bigger serving cos this is gonna be my brunch. And that eggs…. this is resulted from the morning upside down timing I just love it like that. All mushed up! *bluek* Didn’t include the sambal in this pic cos I know they won’t turn out well.

Good thing the school holiday is here. At least my brain can take a 2 weeks break from all the mind cracking and sleep deprived too. Since I don’t have to prepare food for the school going kids, this time round, I’m going to pamper myself with all the ooo.. and ahh…

For the first time, this is Mummy’s bento consist of 3 mini egg tarts, cherries and chequered rose apple.

In chinese, alkaline dumpling is also known as kan sui jong (cantonese) or kijang (hockkien). They are not savory like bak chang. Usually alkaline dumpling is dipped into caramelized palm sugar or kaya. They are easier to make too. This is how you do it:

Ingredients:

500gm Glutinous rice
3 teaspoons Alkaline water (air abu/kan sui)
Small Bamboo leaves
Another 2 teaspoons of Alkaline water

Method:

If possible, buy the glutinous rice from sundry shop and not the one like I used above as those branded packaging is not so pure. They added some rice into it which will later resulted a harder dumplings. Wash throughly glutinous rice. Soak them in clean water with 3 teaspoons of alkaline water added. I soak mine for 6 hours (9am to 2pm). The colour will change yellowish instantly.

As usual, wash the bamboo leaves and the string. Discard water from glutinous rice and you can start to wrap the dumplings. Place 2 bamboo leaves back to back. Shape them into a funnel using one third of the length and work your way up.

Cut away the hard stem on the glutinous rice. You know making dumplings takes a great deal of skills, patience and free time but of course practise makes perfect too. Filled up a big pot of water enough to cover the dumplings. Bring water to boiled. Add another 3 teaspoons of alkaline water into the boiling water before adding your dumplings.

Cook for about 3 hours. Add more water if the liquid drop below the dumplings level. Once done, hang to dry.

For the caramelized palm sugar syrup:

Ingredients:

450gm Palm sugar
200ml or 1 packet of Coconut milk
2 leaves of pandan (screwpine)

Method:

Put a little water in sauce pot. Cut coarsely palm sugar so that they will dissolve faster. Cook under low fire all the time.

Once sugar dissolve, add in coconut milk. Cook till sugar thicken. That took me a good 1 hour!

I can eat 3 dumplings in a go. They are so lip-smacking good especially the palm sugar.

You can try cooking kaya too if you have the time. Seriously I don’t that is why i resorted to palm sugar instead.

The actual day for Duan Wu Jie falls on 7th June 2008. Early Happy Duan Wu Jie to all since I won’t be around that day.

Without her Daddy around (1st time) during her birthday is emo enough for the Mummy and this teenage daughter of mine decided to add in more emoness early morning. *haiz

Daddy called home from States in the morning to wish her a “Happy Burfday” and of course she is more than happy but can’t control her EMOtion. Her voice started to choke and that sleepy eyes of hers slowly turned watery and red. Of course when Mummy see this, she can’t control her EMOtion too. I think my daughter has my gene. Both of us is quite EMOtional type.

Since Daddy is not around, my Sister was kind enough to bring us out for dinner in TGIFridays. Awww….. see, I have the greatest Sister in the whole wide world!

And yes, I heard you, “TGIF again ah?” lol. We really love their yummillicious food and all the crazy stuff they chanted for the Birthday Girl.

But you know what? (S)he is (s)o (s)hy, (s)tunt, (s)peechless and her eyes starting to (s)well again.

You can tell by looking at her in the picture. Watch that guy in red. He has got all sort of action. Now look at my daughter, she just stood there like a statue and that smile is just so fake. Luckly the bunch of crazy guys notice it and quickly ended the session. So emo can die! I gave her hug so that she would feel better and told her TGIF is not her type. She is just too shy! (I was supposed to say EMO but didn’t want her to rain again). So there you go, a emo birthday for her to remember.

After meeting up with Chiwiland, we went to Pangkor Island. That is where my Mom’s hometown is and where my maternal Grandma is residing after she got married to my late Grandpa. Fyi, Grandma is a Penang lang.

Tip: If you plan to go Pangkor Island, remember this. At the Lumut jetty, ferry operator is selling the tickets at Rm10 for tourists and RM6 for Pangkorists.

Not many people know about it. More like a hush-hush thingy among authorities, but my Mom warned us beforehand that we should pay for the tickets at RM6. I mean, we are still a locals and these people hike up the price to earn from tourist. So, what happened was…. my Mom went and bought the ticket.

“Sepuluh ringgit.”

“APA SEPULUH RINGGIT. ENAM RINGGIT!”

Of course, the ticket seller was caught by surprise and was dumbfolded.

We made a stop at my Grandma’s house. As usual, my aunt had prepared a big pot of asam laksa. That was our favourite! Maklumlah, ikan kembung (mackeral fish) originate from Pangkor. And… and… do I have to add? Aunt uses the traditional way to cook the stock, i.e. by using charcoal and clay pot! Syok 99!

During our younger days, we used to stay over night at my Grandma’s house. Nowadays, you know… our family members have multiplied by 4. There is no way to accomodate so many of us plusssssssssssss I CAN’T SLEEP WITHOUT AIRCON!

Off we went and checked in at the hotel near the beach. Woohoo! Suaku city people like me love bitches beaches.

I have sea phobia; sudden drop + big wave + swept by wave + drowning. It all happened again when we recklessly assumed one of us is watching the kids. I’m sorry baby. But when unexpected things happen, please don’t blame the other to make yourself look innocent. Ok? But, didn’t I tell you to play at the beach and not in the water???!!! Huh! Huh!

We had fun digging a hole and burying Baby Princess in it. At the beginning, she was smiling and laughing with us. After sometime of wiggling, she found out that she can’t move any of her body part. She was wailing for help. All we could do is continue laughing and mummy is so bad to camwhore with her. lol

Beach isn’t complete without going for a stroll for seashells. And I stumble upon this right before my big toe.

I have seen and picked star fish but not this type of seashell with an engraved star on it. Overall, we found 4 of this. Isn’t God creation marvellous?

I waited whole afternoon……

… where art thou?

By the time I finish writing this post, it turn out more than “Pangkor Island Trip cum Grandma’s Birthday”. lol

So, Grandma is turning 93y/o this year. Still going healthy and strong.

Typical chinese with typical red eggs.

Dinner so-so only. Nothing much to show off but I’m sure this is attractive!

Mantis prawn in steam egg. The taste? Really nothing to shout about. This is not my usual food angle. They look a bit crappy to me. What to do? I’m sharing a table with my other cousins and they can’t wait to dig into this dish.

The whole night I have been bribing my kids with this,

“Who did not finish the rice, tomorrow cannot sit fast-fast boat.”

“Who is naughty, tomorrow cannot sit fast-fast boat.”

“Time to sleep. Don’t talk. If not tomorrow cannot sit fast-fast boat.”

So, be good ya? Tomorrow I bring you go sit fast-fast boat

Just yesterday we remember seeing her in her birthday suit. Within minutes, little one was wrapped up in blanket and rompers. Today, her chubby body snugged perfectly under that long flowing dress.

Being the 3rd child in the family, she had to share Mummy and Daddy’s love and attention with her two other siblings. You can’t blame Mummy when she totally forgot about the Birthday cake

And since TGIFriday refuse to give me a discount on dining, I won’t give them another good review nor post up any of the food and that yummilicious creamillious devilish mud pie *blueh*

Nah! Left over from Jurrasic Park *ngek*

I missed Tony’s Roma steak so much. Maybe during my Birthday, I’ll eat my heart out there.

Here’s a video for viewing pleasure if you are interested to know how their staffs make such a stomping ruckus during birthday celebrations that the next country also can hear.

“Baby, tell all the lengchai Uncle and lenglui Aunty how old are you today?”

Oops… bad habit die hard. We will still be calling her “Baby” at home cos she’s still a “Baby” in our eyes.