Wake Up and Smell the Cake

Made pengat pisang today! Was all prepared, with sago no less! And of course, leftover bananas. My first time attempting this, as usual when my mother does it, I wouldn't pay attention to the method or recipe haha. Anyway when I asked my mum, there wasn't a clear recipe either, all is by estimation. So here's my version! Makes 1 potful. Ingredients 4-6 ripe bananas 150ml coconut milk 2 cups water 1 pandan leaf 1 1/2 inches' block of gula melaka Sugar to taste, if necessary Heat water with coconut milk until well mixed. Tie the pandan leaf into a knot and put in the pot. Chop the gula melaka into smaller pieces so that it'll dissolve easily in the mix. Dissolve the gula melaka. Slice the bananas (not too thin or else they'll break) and put them into the mixture. Add already boiled and washed sago in! That's it! :) Chopped gula melaka! Not that easy to chop :s   End product! Couldn't be bothered to take a proper photo cos I was more w

Life has been good, and very much in love with The Husband :) Am always thankful to be married to him, to have someone as amazing as him to spend my life with. He's more than I could ever ask for, sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve him. Anyhoo!! Was on half day yesterday, was awaiting shelves and drawers for the baby room, and I did loads of things! When I go on leave, it's superwoman time! Especially when The Husband isn't around to tell me to not exert myself too much hurhur. I do admit, it's tiring, but kinda fun too! And anyway I didn't have internet nor cable TV to entertain myself haha. Managed to cook a proper meal (by this I mean there's vege) and made begedil too, mopped the kitchen and did laundry including bedsheets (ironed, no less)! Haha! The bright sun was too tempting! Tiring but satisfying. Wanted to transfer some of baby stuff into his room, but I'll leave that to today or tomorrow probably. Baby's arrival in a few weeks'

hungry woman = irritable woman hungry + pregnant + impatient woman =  

Sounds yummy doesn't it!! I first saw this recipe at Belzy's Kitchen and I thought what a cool idea! But to my amazement there are many other recipes out there too! Yesterday night I was on a dessert frenzy. I have been longing to make agar-agar to eat in this hot weather, and I have all the ingredients ready. And I have like seven very ripe bananas that would end up in the rubbish bin unless I cook it. So! I did agar-agar sweetcorn and this chocolate banana roll. My mum often makes agar-agar sweetcorn, but I've never even bothered to help out or ask how it's done. All I know is there's many little containers in the fridge filled with yummy agar-agar waiting to be eaten. Haha! I use the one my mum always does, the instant mix from Swallow Globe. No fotos cos it's too simple to make and I didn't use any fancy moulds, just plain ol' Ikea square containers hahaha :) Agar-Agar Sweetcorn 1 packet instant mix 1.2 litres water 3 tbsp condensed mil

Have quite a few things I am feeling ambitious about making this week, that is if I've gone marketing. This is what happens when you start making your weekly grocery list! Haha! Sambal godok Kicap cili to go with fried tempeh and tahu Ayam lemak mangga Agar-agar jagung (found some tips here !) Banana hot pockets cos I have leftover bananas. I think I can do this today since the bananas are reeeaaalllly ripe already One whole jugful of fresh lime juice! Couldn't get enough of it especially in this hot weather! And I came across this recipe at the same page I found agar-agar recipe, Chinese Custart Egg Tarts . Looks easypeasy! But this weekend I'll be quite busy. I hope to find time! :)

Yay! Family came over yesterday to help get the chinese calligraphy up, and in the evening the coffee table and TV console arrived! Bought artificial orchids for the display in the coffee table, but it took quite some time to decide which flowers. I initially wanted lilies but they didn't look that nice. Sigh. So we settled for white orchids instead. Decided not to drill TV to the wall cos there'll be permanent hole damage and in case we decide to get a new TV (though not anytime soon cos aircon is definitely a priority in this sweltering heat!) we'd have to plaster back the holes and probably drill again. Elections yesterday. Voted for the first time! With technology it's easy to keep up with the results. And with me having sudden leg cramps at 2am and in my cringing and tossing and turning, woke up Other Half. Perfect time to check results haha! And so we have two unemployed ministers now. It's like being fired! So does that mean they have to clear their desks o

Here's the recipe for the chocolate chip cheesecake I mentioned earlier ! Got this recipe from Fantastic Cheesecake - Kek Keju Hebat by Alex Goh. My auntie gave it to us cos she doesn't have use for it hahahaha. Made some adaptations. For the base I used leftover digestive biscuits instead of the recipe's Oreo base. Like any digestive cheesecake base, crumble the digestive biscuits and mix with melted butter and press on the base of the springform tin. I think I used about 80 to 100g of digestives and 80g of butter. Bake in oven 170 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes and cool. Cheesecake: 500g cream cheese 140g sugar (hehe I ran out of white sugar so I topped up with brown sugar haha!) 20g flour 2 eggs 200g whipping cream semi-sweet chocolate couvertures Topping: 200g sour cream (recipe calls for 400g but I only had 200g with me) 3 tbsp condensed milk (recipe calls for 2 tbsp sugar but I ran out of sugar) generous amount of chocolate chips!!! Mix and cream chees

So it was major fatty food alert for the birthday/Good Friday weekend.Yes I know! Backdated post! It started off with Cream Cheese Brownies, for birthday boy's birthday cake! :) I searched for a fool-proof recipe and I found one at Betty Crocker's website using their instant brownie mix, and made a few adjustments. Filling 8 oz cream cheese, softened (recipe only used 4oz but I thought that's too little!) 1 egg 3 tablespoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla Brownies 1 box (1 lb 2.4 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix Water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box Sprinkle-happy semisweet chocolate chipsand white chocolate chips :) Heat oven to 170ºC. In small bowl, beat filling ingredients until smooth. Set aside. Make brownie batter as directed on box. Spread 3/4 of brownie batter in a 9 by 9 inch pan. Spoon filling by tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter. Spoon remaining brownie batter over filling. Cut through mixtur

FABULOUS weekend! :) Saturday morning's class was fun! Especially love the part where they gave us dolls to play practise holding babies in breastfeeding position wahahaha. Other Half thinks I'm too rough with the doll. Hehe. Went for a short getaway to JB. Stayed at Thistle for the second time because the first time was totally awesome, but this time round the service sucks. We were made to wait for like an hour before we could get our room because it wasn't ready. What the heck!! It's not like we asked for early check-in! I think they were shorthanded, but knowing that it's a public holiday, and the number of bookings they have, shouldn't they get more people to come and work?! Disaster at the reception I tell you. So many people were waiting. Anyway. That aside, it was a good getaway. Laze around doing nothing haha. Other Half wanted a seafood dinner and so we went to Senibong. I haven't even heard of that place in my life yet it's so popular! L

I always tell myself, lower or have no expectations, then I won't feel disappointed. But it isn't easy. And I'm all kinds of emotional right now.

I am stressed. Yes, I am. After a long long time. I am seldom stressed. It's Other Half's birthday very very soon and I don't know what to get for him. I gave him a suggestion which I thought he'd be okay with cos it's practical, but he wasn't excited about it. Bummer. I do have something planned for morning, but that's just about it. Morning only. I am hopeless!! I have to come up with ideas fast!!! :(

Baby overdose yesterday!! Visited Adri to see his newborn, and also meet colleague's baby girl! Babies are just so cute. Can't wait to see mine :) You can just stare at them the whole day, watch their movements, watch them sleep peacefully. I asked Other Half how come babies are so cute, and he said if they weren't, people might not take care of them. True hor. Even so, there are heartless people who throw their babies in dustbins. Urgh. Yesterday we went crazy shopping for the new room! Got this play mat for the room and I think it's just so cute! It's even more exciting than buying the very long outstanding coffee table and TV console. Haha! The house is still so bare. Have to do something about it soon! More shopping -_-" Oh wells. At least bonus came at the correct time!

I need to think happy thoughts. Once again I'm plagued by negativity and everything bleargh.

Broke the frame of my glasses yesterday. Damn. And like that's not enough, it fell in the toilet bowl. Tried hard to put scotchtape but it didn't stick well. Now surviving on UHU glue. I hope it can last me till I get my new pair on Wednesday (or Tuesday, if it's ready).  If not then it's either walk around blindly, or wear my sunglasses with degree. Either way I'm like a blind person. Haha!

Other Half says my face is chubby now :( Fine I know I've gained more kilos than I should have, and my growing appetite especially for yummy fatty food like chocolates and french fries isn't helping. Sigh. My muffin top isn't a muffin top anymore. It's an overflowing cake blob instead. How I dread the thought of losing all that extra weight. Would I have the determination? Haha. There's a nice little park near our home, and that would be perfect to jog, and go for walks. If I wanna fit back into my old clothes, then I'd have to shed the extra pounds. And cut down on my very much loved chocolate sobsob.

Tuesday This morning while I was praying, a cockroach came beside me. Bloody hell! Another one in our room! It's not like I have food lying around! Even in the kitchen I make sure I don't have food lying around for cockroaches and ants to feast on. Yet they are still around! Do they eat wood or something? So irritating to see cockroach shit here and there. Tsk. And I wanted my kitchen to be cockroach-free :( I suspect they either come flying into the house, or from the rubbish chute, or from the drain. Bleah. Makes me miss London cos there seems to be very little cockroaches there, though there was a small mouse in our studio instead. Haha. Wednesday Time flies! It's exactly three months to D-Day! Am so super duper excited to meet you! Wonder how you'll look like :) The journey thus far has been very good and easy on us both. And I am very thankful for that. I pray that the rest of our journey will be smooth-sailing insyaAllah! Thinking about what's to come is

I tried the mango cheesecake on Wednesday night! Yup late night baking! Started at 9 plus, and crumbling the digestives really took some time! I also didn't read the recipe properly, that it requires 1 and a half hours to bake, and a further 1 hour to cool before refrigerating. I cut short the cooling time to 15 minutes under the fan, and popped it into the fridge cos it was time for bed. Here's the ingredients with some modifications. The original can be found at Diana's Desserts . Crust: 1 1/2 cups digestive crumbs 1/2 cup granulated sugar 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick/3 oz/85g) salted butter, melted Filling: 3 large very ripe mangoes peeled, pitted, coarsely chopped (makes 2 cups) 3 (250g) packages cream cheese, at room temperature 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 3 teaspoons vanilla powder 4 eggs Instructions: For Crust: Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C. Lightly butter a 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Stir cracker crumbs and sugar in med

I have stumbled upon a gem of a dessert recipe website! It's called Diana's Desserts . Came across it when I was looking for mango cheesecake recipe . Have leftover mangoes that could be used for something yummy and sinful! Like cheesecake! Muahahaha!!! So now all I have to find is cream cheese. I do hope I can get it at the grocery shops near my house cos I feel like doing it today. Or else I'd have to stock up whenever I go to a bigger supermarket. In times like these I miss London! It's a baker's heaven there.

I am very happy today I don't know why! I wanna start this marketing pay per use scheme with my mum. Suggested by my sister. Haha. Since we're only cooking for two, with some days I don't even know if I'm cooking or not cos Other Half knocks off late from work, raw food goes to waste. Like the other time I bought too much tahu, tempe, fish and some other stuff which don't have long or freezable shelf life. It's a pity to throw them away, but they can't be rotting (literally, hurhurhur) in the fridge for so long. For things that can only be bought at wet markets, I've asked my mum's help to get them for me and I'll collect them after work. Today I've requested for ikan bawal and/or ikan cermin. And my mum went to buy both. I know she will cook the rest, so might as well just tompang and take some. She buys onions and potatoes at 5kg packs too, maybe I can do that with those. Speaking of which! I've run out of onions! My mum's

Stupid me lost my balance and splashed into a puddle of mud and sorta sprained my ankle. I hate it hate it! And I was wearing CLOTH shoes. Bloody disgusting. Luckily the mud was not very thick, and I think my foot is okay. But still. That TOTALLY affected my mood. I hate pools of mud. My last encounter with mud was TERRIBLE. Splashes all the way till above the knee. I hate losing my balance. I hate wet shoes. Wet dirty shoes. And I'm having a bad tudung day. Freakin' slippery material, I should have worn extra pins. And I'm feeling some sort hungry. But I ate rice for lunch! I hate it when I eat but I don't feel full. Why! Why don't I feel full! I wish I had a huge slice of cake here muahahaha. I am soooo gonna to fry those frozen mini donuts and smother them with nutella for breakfast tomorrow morning!