6 -- Outing day!

I had a great outing with a group of friends yesterday. There were my previous schoolmates and tuition mates in my high schools. In fact, two of them were my primary schoolmates too! We had a wonderful time chit-chatting with each other and laughing each other off on the past memories. How lovely it is to have such gathering after years! 

Before meeting them in the evening time, I decided to bake something special for them, immediately this cookies, that I used to favour very much, popped out of my mind. It is the soft oatmeal cookies! I first tried this in my university during the break time between the classes. I personally love the tidbits like cookies, cakes and biscuits because they are usually not sold in a huge portion. Oh well, I know they are fattening but still they never fail to attract me..! The cookies are usually sold in big round pieces at the bakery shops, but this time, I made them into smaller ones.

Again, I chose the recipe from this well-known website in Western countries (link is attached below). I would suggest people who love baking to search for a highly-recommended recipe from this website because it provides the ratings and reviews from people. Besides that, it is very user-friendly. You can select whatever recipes you are interested in and the website will automatically store them into your shopping list! Many recipes do not state down the servings so sometimes it is very worrisome to make them either too much or too little. I am very glad that I have finally found such a useful website and perhaps you can try browsing through it if you want to make something for someone special! =P

Link : http://allrecipes.com/recipes/main.aspx?prop24=PN_1.0.0_Recipes


Soft Oatmeal Cookies

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Soft-Oatmeal-Cookies/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

Ingredients:

• 115g of softened butter
• 70g of white sugar
• 80g of packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 125g of all-purpose flour
• 2g of baking soda
• 3g of salt
• 2g of ground cinnamon powder
• 120g of quick cooking oats

1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour. 
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar. 
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I have modified a bit on the ingredients. Like I said, I do not really like an extreme sweet stuffs so I have reduced the sugar by 60g. But still it turned out to be quite sweet. I used self-raising flour instead of all-purpose flour because all-purpose flour and baking soda can be substituted by self-raising flour. It does not bring any unsatisfactory effect to the dough and result (turned out exactly as I want it to be).

I have compiled the steps into one photo, which saved my time and energy. It took ages to upload the photos separately here.

These are the friends that I hang out with yesterday night...! =)

Don't judge me here..! Haha... My sister took the photo while I was talking to her. She bought me this blouse and I really love it very much...! Thanks, love..!

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And............... someone in my house has finally given birth! Four little kittens! Three of them are males and one is female.. =P

5 -- My sister is back!

Had a very long chat with my friends till past midnight yesterday. By the time I reached home, I was almost drained out... so tired that I wanted to lie on my bed straight away.. but to no avail, I still cleaned myself before I headed to bed.. And yet, the birds chirping sound and sunshine woke me up at 7.15 this morning and then I really could not sleep anymore no matter how hard I tried. I have not been sleeping well for the past few days. Gosh, please don't torture me in this way..


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While I was browsing through the photos on my phone, I actually found that I had very much good memories in there. I am the person who does not take lots of photos. Well... that does NOT mean I am NOT interested in taking photos! I am, but, the low quality of photos taken by my current phone just draws me away... So, I promise that I will NEVER ever ever buy a phone without good camera system anymore.

This was one of the cookies that I made for Chinese new Year early this year. For people like me who is not a fan of sweetness, this type of cookies favoured me the most. I think many people like it too. My two sisters and I finished them even before Chinese New Year started (we treated ourselves as if we were already having the New Year celebration) ! It was also the cookies that was finished the earliest during the festival. I think it still tastes the best for the first few days after baking.

So, do you know what cookies it is....

Hehe...


It is the popular 'CornFlakes cookies'. 

I first knew it when my secondary classmates and I decided to make something special during our Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu (KHB) class. My friend suggested of making cornflakes cookies. So, from there, I started to know about this delicacy and in fact, my whole classmates loved them too. That was long time ago, when we were still in Form 1 (I guess we were only 13 years old at that time.. u see, how time ROCKETS..!)... Reminiscing good old days again............


CornFlakes cookies

Ingredients :

• 120g of butter
• 60g of icing sugar, sifted
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla
• 120g of flour, sifted
• 30g of cornflour, sifted
• 30g of milk powder, sifted
• 30g of raisins
• 100g of cornflakes

1. Cream butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla.
2. Fold sifted flour mixture into butter mixture.
3. Drop mixture teaspoon by teaspoon onto the cornflakes. Shape into balls and place into small coloured paper cups.
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes till golden brown. When cool, store in air-tight container.

So, this was the cornflakes cookies that I made. Once the scent oozes out from these cookies, it can make your house smell like the candies house in the fairy tales. haha... I am just trying to exaggerate the whole situation.

This was the recipe book that I referred to...

And...........

My crazy sister is coming back today. Can't wait for her arrival anymore because the first thing that I want to do is to bully her! She is so unlucky to have me as her eldest sister (such a big bully)... haha..

This was taken earlier this year while we were having a short trip to Tanjung Manis, which was one hour drive from Sibu, Sarawak..

Heading to attend the open house ceremony during Chinese New Year..

Dear sister, you know I love you, don't you...? haha..

Many people said we look alike.. Hmm.. what do you think...?

4 -- Scones delight

Scones are the savoury Western biscuit-like cakes often served as breakfast or afternoon tea. I was completely obsessed with scones after the first time I had them in Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) on one Sunday just before I attended the morning service last year. The butter and strawberry jam smeared scone was indeed lip-smacking and till today, the taste still vividly appears on my mind. I have tried making it once but it turned out to be a total failure. The scone was more like a rocky hard stone than a soft, buttery and crumbly pastry. I got the recipe from a cookbook in which the author is one of the most popular chefs in my country. At first, I was not very certain if my method of baking was wrong, so I decided to give it another try this afternoon. Again, I chose the best recipe which were highly recommended among people who love baking from the website. The link is already pasted below and the video also clearly shows how you could make scones without much error. I personally followed everything taught by the chef and the outcome was quite excellent. Now, I can enjoy eating scones whenever I crave for them...


Chef John's Scones Recipe

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chef-Johns-Scones/Detail.aspx?src=VD_Summary&scale=8&ismetric=1
Ingredients for dough:

• 220g of all-purpose flour
• 30g of white sugar
• one teaspoon of baking powder
• sprinkled salts
• 70g of unsalted frozen butter
• 120mLs of milk
• 60g of yogurt (I chose blueberry yogurt)
• 50g of raisins

Egg spread : one lightly beaten egg + 10mLs of milk

1. Preheat oven to 200 degree Celcius. 
2. Whisk flour, white sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Grate the frozen butter and mix them together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 
3. Stir together the milk, yogurt, and raisins in a small bowl; stir into flour mixture with a fork until just moistened and holding together. 
4. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and pat into rectangle. 
5. Fold the rectangle in thirds. Turn dough a half turn, gather any crumbs, flatten back into a rectangle, and repeat. Cut into eight pieces and place each scone on a silicone baking mat. 
6. Whisk egg and 1 tablespoon milk together in a small bowl; brush mixture on top of each scone. 
7. Bake scones in the preheated oven until risen and golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove and transfer to cooling rack. 

I copied and pasted the photo from Wikipedia. This was exactly the same one I had during the Cameron highlands trip in early May this year. So fantastic...!

This time, I did not take many photos of the making process because my hands were full of batter and dough. So, I only took two photos of them after I finished my job. The mistake that I made in the past was I used the defrosted butter. That was the reason why I used more flour than the stated amount in the recipe. It is very important to use the frozen butter so that the dough will not be too soft (liquid-like). Besides that, the butter has to be grated into shreds so that it can be well mixed with the flour mixture.

So, these were the scones that I made this afternoon. The scones here do not look appealing as the ones shown on websites because of the low photo quality.... They are not round in shape because I followed the chef style. He made them into square shapes.

While they were still trying their best to be 'mature'....

The texture inside...

And................. this was the dish that I had with my father this afternoon at the coffee shop (Yummy Kafe) which was near to the bakery ingredients shop. The cafe also has one of the best roti canai in Sibu. The beef noodles and dumpling noodles soup are very delicious as well. The dish below is called Lu Guo Tiao in Mandarin. It tasted indeed scrumptious.

.......... To be continued........

3 -- A group trip to remember in the past

This was the last trip that I had with a group of friends just after we finished our first phase of medical school life. I could not recall every single detail about the trip as it was about 7 months ago. The things that I could only do now is to try to refresh my memory by looking back into the photos that I took at that time. 

Well, it was a 4-day-and-3-night trip in Krabi, Thailand. Frankly speaking, I did not know the existence of this little town until my boyfriend told me so. But since then, I still did not pay much attention on it as I assumed the vacation mainly emphasised on friendship rather than the trip itself. However, I finally realised that I have actually gained experience through the visit in Krabi town.

Day 1 -- I still remembered that we took the earliest flight to Krabi because I woke up at 4+am just to take the van to the airport. The driver was feeling unhappy as we came out from our house half an hour later than the expected time... But anyway, we still managed to reach the airport on time. The flight was 2 hours long and I could not remember anything happened on the plane. Hmm, I guess I was sleeping at that time... we reached there in the morning and were greeted by a local tour guide. He was beaming happily once we came out from the arrival hall. The words that I first learned there were greetings such as 'sawadika' and 'sawadikap'.. ka usually applies to females while kap for males. 

The first stop was Tiger Cave Temple. Well...I did not take much photos of the temples. What I still remembered was there were many monkeys climbing around the small temples and they were very tame. We spent about half an hour there before we tried the first local chicken soup noodles and chicken rice at Krabi town. They were so palatable that some of us even ordered the second dishes. After that we had a coffee time at the cafe next to the shop. At first, I was quite surprised to see such coffee shop in this small town. There were quite a number of Westerners enjoyed having their food in there. My boyfriend came out with a weird idea, saying that he wanted to buy a board game so that we could play during the night time when we were bored. Unfortunately, there was no such thing around that area, so we just walked around the town before we headed back to the van and went to another area where our pre-booked hotel situated. 

This was the first photo I took in Krabi. The waterlily was so attractive that I could not resist, so I quickly snapped down the photo of it before I left to the temple.

Left -- This was one of the monkeys in the temple. I should have shot down the beautiful scenery there with lotsssss of monkeys. I like monkeys especially when they are small. Old ones can look aggressive sometimes.

Isn't the right one cuter.....? My lovely pet monkey has been with me since I was in my highschool.... =P

The chicken soup noodles we had there as our lunch..

Coffees that we ordered -- mocha, latte, cappuccino (I ordered this, I remember =P) and dark coffee.

Although the look from outside hotel somehow disappointed us for a while, but the rooms themselves were very spacious and comfortable. It was worth a penny and I was very reluctant to leave the room. We had a nap and went out again in the late afternoon. We also had a stroll around the area. I could not believe that Starbucks coffee shop was seen at that area, which was so much better than my hometown because we do not have Starbucks here...... We had a divine buffet that night, and I managed to taste various types of ice creams with different flavours! I really hope that I can go back to this buffet restaurant one day. The price was indeed reasonable too. It was a pity that I missed all the good photos that night.

The crab that was sold outside a restaurant along the street nearby my hotel.

It was almost sunset. We just stopped there for a while but only walked along the beach at night after dinner on the first day of the trip. Breathtaking scenery..

Day 2 -- After taking our breakfast provided by the hotel staffs, we went to Mangrove Swamps, which was about an hour drive from our hotel. It was my first time kayaking in my entire life! Initially I was very scared as I could not swim well. Luckily, we were provided with life jackets along with several bottles of water. The guide there taught us on how to kayak correctly and show us around the swamp regions. We visited the hills and saw some mural paintings left by the ancestors many many years back. I did not know exactly what they meant but I know that these are something that we should appreciate and preserve as they symbolise a certain tradition passed down through generations. We spent the whole morning exploring Mangrove Swamps and had our lunch provided by the local people there. They were very friendly and welcoming. They were willing to add on when we almost finished our dishes. You know, guys are always huge eaters......! We had a great time kayaking and I was shouting like an insane person there the whole morning . By the time we sat in the car heading back to our hotel, my boyfriend was already like a dead beat sleeping throughout the journey (as he used up all his energy kayaking and bullying our friends). 

My naughty boyfriend and I. Still like a kid joyfully eating his supper. 

Along the way to Mangrove Swamps....

He and I kayaking on the mangrove swamps... =)

 

Another two happily smiling friends..... yeah..!

These were the mural paintings that I have mentioned earlier... still very well preserved.

This was the cave that we went...

While inside the cave....

This was our first group photo...!  =)

The well-known mango sticky rice that we bought at the morning market in Krabi town. The glutinuous rice was nice. I like the mango too. It tasted more soury than sweet so I like it..! =P

I shall continue my day 3 and 4 tomorrow.. time to hit the sack now. I am so exhausted...

2 - Cake baking time

It was a great day for me as I had a lovely breakfast with my mother, grandma, cousin, uncle and auntie. I seldom have the opportunity to gather with them as all of us live very far from each other and most of the time we are very busy with our daily routine. It was a great morning as we all got to sit down and chat with each other on little things that happened in our life. 

I miss the moment spending with my grandma as she was the one who took care of me when I was still a little baby. I know how much she loves me and I really love her too. How I wish I could just pause the time and accompany her for the time being.... she is one of the most wonderful ladies that I have ever seen besides my mother. I remember whenever my family and I reached her house in Bintulu, the first thing she would do was shouting my name "Ting Ting" from the kitchen while she was busy cooking sumptuous dishes for all of us. Her thunderstorm-like voice has made me miss her even more.... I think my mother has inherited a good gene from my grandma because both of them can cook really very well. I am very lucky and glad to have them in my life.

I have decided to make a pandan chiffon cake for my grandma in order to express my gratitude towards her and at the same time, welcoming her to my hometown. I am not really sure if she will like it but I guess she would be truly happy to see this little gift from her granddaughter. Her favourite cake is normal sponge cake but this time I would like to bake another type of cake with different flavour for her. Personally I love chiffon cake very much and from what I know is that many people are fond of pandan flavour as well. 

For people who are interested in baking pandan chiffon cake, perhaps you can try out this recipe. The cake is neither too big nor too small and I have reduced about 55g of castor sugar because my grandma does not like food which are too sweet. The cake still carries a little sweetness anyway, but I guess that should be fine. 

Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe

Ingredients:

Egg yolk batter

• 6 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp pandan juice
• 150g coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp pandan essence
• few drops of green colourings
• 55g of castor sugar
• 140g of plain flour

Egg white foam

• 6 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 70g of castor sugar

1. Combine egg yolks, pandan juice, coconut milk, pandan essence, green colourings, castor sugar in a mixing bowl. Fold in flour until batter forms.
2. To make egg white foam, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until mixture turns soft peaks. Gradually add in sugar, beating at high speed until frothy and stiff peaks form.
3. Gently fold beaten egg white in egg yolk batter until well blended.
4. Pour batter into ungreased 22cm tube pan. Bake in the preheated oven at 170 degree celsius for 30-40 minutes or until cooked.
5. Remove from the oven, INVERT the cake onto table until completely cooled.

A maid from a shop was chopping an old coconut into small pieces. It was then ground by this coconut grinder into desiccated coconut.

Left is the desiccated coconut together with husk while the right one is pure desiccated coconut. According to my mum, they usually use the right one to make kuih-muih (local steamed instead of baked cakes).

 Pandan chiffon cake in process! =P

In the oven........ notice the unique cake tin? Chiffon cakes are made in this way! I have no idea why.... but I guess the cakes will not sink using this type of cake tin.

Remember to INVERT it straight after taking out from the oven or else it will sink!

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....! Freshly baked pandan chiffon cake! The colour was different from the commercial ones as I did not add in much green colouring!

And......................... this was the ba zheng noodle soup I had in a cafe nearby my cousin's house this morning. I would say that my grandma cooked ba zheng noodle soup tastes so much better than this!

Ok.. I need to rush to drive my mother to the town now.... stay tuned for the next post..  =P

1 - First and foremost

Well, I admit that I do not have much passion in writing blogs. I tried to blog as much as I can (first post and yet I said 'blog as much as I can' o.O), but somehow the lazy bugs on my body have infected me so much that I did not even have the intention to read people's blogs. I have actually seen quite a number of people on Facebook involved in blogging and their blogs indeed amazed me. The ways they expressed themselves and the things that happened around them were just too good to be described. 

Initially, I thought blogging consumes time and does not carry a significant part in our life, especially for students, we do not usually have much time left after our hectic daily schedules and occasionally hang-out-sessions with our friends. 

Now, I have actually come to realise that there are plenty of benefits in blogging! Firstly, it notes down our past memories. It is very unlikely for us to remember every single thing that happened in our life. Sometimes, whenever we read back our own blogs, we could recall what has happened in the past, and of course, making us a little bit happier despite of the repetitive and mundane life that we are facing now. Secondly, I would say that it makes my life more organised than before. It applies to me because my long holidays have almost driven me crazy! I guess I will need to buck up and start making my every day a little more organised and meaningful. I should have tried blogging early this year. But what to do..... I could only blame myself for being a REAL procrastinator. I am not a camera person or photographer, neither a poser. But I will try to make taking photos as a habit so that I can post them up on my own blogs in future. I used to addict looking into blogs with more photos and less words... =P Another advantage that I know from blogging is that it helps us to improve our language skill. I am not that typical person who could use lots of flowery words and I do not enjoy reading thick books that are sold in bookshops or even free books that could be borrowed from libraries. Nowadays, I also have a very limited opportunity to learn a proper language as we are bombarded by simplified and improper language. That is why I could sense that my English is going downhill again. So, I guess this could at least help me in writing or maintaining a proper one. 

Hmmmm... there's nothing special happened recently, except for the two dates that I had with my secondary schoolmates. Appearance wise, I would not say that everyone has 360 degree change. However, I am glad to see that my girlfriends have become prettier and more feminish. I could also feel that the maturity level has changed substantially compared to last time when we were in high schools. I had a wonderful time chatting with them and I really look forward to seeing them soon. 

P.S. I shall attach the photos of hangout sessions in the next post.

First photo of my blog! should start from my childhood time, isn't it....? =P 

Left - That was when I was taken care by my grandma when both my parents were outstation. So chubby and cute! Credits to my grandma who fed me with plenty of food!

Right - I was holding my sister who is 3 years younger than me. Noticed my missing incisor teeth? That was the time I fell from the staircases when I was carrying my favourite toys. Luckily my teeth came back to me, or else, I would desperately need a denture right now.....

My selfie when I am in my own room.. what a gooooooooooooooooooooooood angle that changed my face shape entirely. I should take more photos with this angle.. hehehe.

Happy reading, guys! =P