Hay Hay! It's Donna Day - Self Frosting Cupcakes

This month is the launch of a new event called Hay! Hay! It's Donna Day that is hosted by Barbara at winosandfoodies over in New Zealand. I have been a fan of Donna Hay for ages, starting from when she was in Marie Claire and produced those wonderful award winning cookbooks; Cooking, Dining, Flavours and Food Fast (I have Flavours and Food Fast in my collection) Since she started her own magazine, I have been buying issues off and on from the newstand. Unfortunately I do not have the first issue of the magazine (which is where the cupcakes recipe came from), they only started selling them in Malaysia from the sixth issue onwards.

Discovering these self frosting cupcakes was wonderful and the recipe is so simple but brilliant as all Donna Hay's recipes are (now you know why their tagline is "Turn simple into special"). I used Nic's adapted recipe since she has tested and tried them and the results were fantastic as seen above in my Nutella version. Nice swirly action there plus the cupcake was so buttery that I want more! I am already planning my next batch; more layers of Nutella and chopped toasted hazelnuts for the ultimate indulgence. Ever since I made these cupcakes, I have been thinking of more outlandish adaptations compared to the mild tinkering I did below: dark chocolate ones with white chocolate sauce (I wonder if the mixture will be mixed up leaving no white streaks?), dark chocolate ones with orange marmalade (kinda like a jaffa cupcake) and etc etc.

As I was new to the recipe, I wasn't too adventurous with my adaption this round but I decided to give it a bit of a local flavour by swirling in some kaya, a coconut egg jam that is popular in Malaysia. The streaks are lighter since the kaya is light brown in colour. The kaya was a nice touch and I went all out to take pictures of the cupcakes with various items I dug out from the cupboards like this sunflower dish I have.



I stuck a little bear figurine I have (I forgot I had these which I used to collect long long ago in university) on top of the kaya swirled cupcake. Don't he look like he belongs on top of that cupcake?



Even the kitty cat could not resist the cupcake, here he is trying to take a nibble and lick at it in the garden. I took a quick picture of him trying to do that before I shooed him away.

Do head over to winosandfoodies for the round-up. I can't wait to see what other adaptations people will come up with as I want to try them all!

Quilt 2005 Malaysia

I know this is way beyond food but I thought I'll share with you a bit of news about this quilt exhibition being held at JW Marriott Hotel from the 21st to 24th November, 2005. It's for a good cause as they are raising funds for Ti Ratana Welfare Organisation.

The exhibition will showcase 150 quilts and auction 50 quilts just like the above Fortune Cat quilt. There will be workshops on quiltmaking, dollmaking and sewing plus a raffle for a chance to win a king sized quilt worth RM5,000 plus sewing machines and etc. Door tickets are RM20 for adults and RM10 for children while raffle tickets are RM5.

For tickets, please contact:

Cottage Patch 03-42563106

Margaret Yong 012-3022322

Agnes Ngoh 012-3811338

P/s The quilts are amazing and a lot of work. I know as I tried to do some quilting a few years back and it nearly killed me just to make one cushion!

Full Moon Goodies

Recently a friend of mine celebrated her newborn's full moon and she gave me a lovely package of food that is traditional to the celebrations. The Chinese celebrate the first month (full moon) of their babies with a grand banquet to announce the baby's arrival and name. This day also marks the end of a confinement period for the mother and she is allowed to move out of the house freely. During her confinement period, the mother and baby is looked after a confinement lady (Pui Yee in Cantonese) who will prepare food with ginger and wine to help dispell the wind in the body. You are also not allowed to drink anything cold and throughout the whole month, you can only drink a special red date drink they make. The confinement lady will also help the mother look after the baby as this is the time for her to rest and recover from the birth.

Instead of a banquet, my friend decided she will deliver full moon packages to close friends and relatives instead. Don't you love the cute little box it came in?



In the package, there was two red ang koo which has a green bean filling. Traditionally a Hokkien dish but now used by other Chinese groups, these glutinous rice cakes are stained red for the auspicious celebration and served during special occasions. The rice cakes are said to resemble the shell of a tortoise (Koo in Chinese) as the Chinese believe this means longevity and prosperity.



Red eggs which are hard boiled eggs dyed in red are also another traditional food during the baby's full moon. It is to symbolise good luck and new life. They will be served with pickled ginger.



Something totally Malaysian, there will also be nasi kunyit (Malay for glutinous rice stained with turmeric) and curry chicken in a full moon celebration. The nasi kunyit is known as festive yellow rice to some and is served in full moon or birthday parties. I know the chicken curry looks super oily but it tasted so yummy.

If you wish to cook these dishes, Kuali has the recipes for you to recreate the full moon package at home. Thanks to baby I and family for the lovely food as everything was yummy.

Slices & Spices @ Damansara Perdana

We discovered a little gem of a place during a shopping trip to Damansara Perdana on Sunday. Being totally unfamiliar with the area, we thought of trying out Umai-Ya, a Japanese restaurant but it was closed. Then it was Mum's Place, but they served a limited menu in the late afternoon so we decided to try this place I had vaguely remember reading about in the papers.

It was a great choice as the place was quiet and cool from the air-conditioner which provided us a nice little haven from the hot sunshine. The place is nicely decorated with pictures of cakes all over the walls and there is even one wall full of rolling pins! Even the menu has a rolling pin holding it together.

Originally we wanted to order their pies but the server told us they were freshly prepared and we will need to wait half an hour. As we were really hungry (it was almost tea time already), we decided to order the pastas instead.

I had the Prawny Pleasure which is linguine tossed in a laksa gravy, prawns and bits of red and green capsicums. I love the unique sauce as it wasn't too spicy but was so different from the usual tomato sauce.



Splashie Boy had the Highly Hawaiian Pasta which had pineapples tossed in a tomatoey sauce topped with hard boiled eggs. An interesting combination of items(!) but he seemed to like it.



When we walked in, we saw a glass counter full of cakes and cheesecakes so I sent Splashie Boy to pick out a dessert for both of us to share. He sure has excellent taste as the Fudge Top Vanilla Cheese he chose was superb. It tasted really moist and fresh as we had the first slice from a fresh cheesecake. I spied other cheesecakes that looked really good too like the Mango Cheesecake, Cranberry Cheesecake and a chocolate cake called Chocolate Heaven.

I'll definitely come back for some cheesecake as they make them so well here. Moreover, I want to try out their Mango Cheesecake. The good thing also about this place during Sunday is it's pretty quiet and easy to find car park space so you get to have a pretty hassle-free lunch or tea. I guess the only problem will be getting into the area as one will have to fight pass the crowds going to Ikea, the Curve, Ikano Power Centre and Tesco for their weekend shopping fix.

Slices & Spices
11-1 Jalan PJU 8/5F

Perdana Business Centre

Bandar Damansara Perdana

Petaling Jaya

Tel: 03 - 7728 1184

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Sao Nam @ Hartamas Shopping Centre

Last weekend was a whirlwind of sorting out the new house plus searching for furniture items. I kinda envision our future weekends to be hanging out at furniture, electrical, lighting, kitchen and bathroom shops to look for items. The down side of going out is I don't get to cook dinner so we have been eating out most of the time.

As we wanted to check out an electrical and kitchen shop, we ended up trying the newly opened Sao Nam. It's a branch of the popular Vietnamese restaurant located at Tengkat Tung Shin which we ate before. Didn't blog about it as I couldn't take pictures since it was too dark for my camera. This time round, I wanted to sit outside where the light was better but Splashie Boy was not keen as he said it was too hot to eat al-fresco.

With a reluctant heart, I trudged inside and perused the menu. I had a hard time reading it as nothing looked familar. A quick check with the waiter on why things were so different and he explained to me that this outlet served Northern Vietnamese food while the Tengkat Tung Shin one served Southern Vietnamese cuisine. He recommended curry noodles which sounded good so I had them while Splashie Boy ordered the beef noodles. We also ordered a platter of deep fried rolls and rice paper rolls.

I so wanted to take pictures of my food but the light wasn't too bright, they had these nice big paper lamps with teeny Christmas lights above us. Great atmospheric lights but lousy for picture taking. I attempted one picture of our appetisers and thought it was a bit too dark so I gave up. I came back and looked at it on my pc and it didn't look too bad, hence I decided to post it up and blog a bit on the food.

I liked the rolls especially with Sao Nam's dipping sauce, the deep fried ones has a prawn and chicken mince inside them. My curry noodles was so yummy; chunks of chicken, a sweet potato, white noodles (kinda like the ones I ate at the Thai fair) in a yellowish curry sauce. I was given an unusual dip too, chopped chillies mixed with salt and freshly squeezed lime juice that went so well with the curry noodles. Splashie Boy's beef noodles were a bit thicker than the normal beef pho you get - he kinda preferred the other Sao Nam version because this one was a bit too oily for him. We both had smoothies and their ciku smoothie is really yummy and filling that we didn't need dessert after that. I don't really go to many Vietnamese restaurants but I liked the food they served here so I'm definitely come back for their rice dishes.

Sao Nam Restaurant

Lot P-36, 2nd Floor

Hartamas Shopping Centre
Jalan Sri Hartamas 1

50480 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03 - 6201 0225

(No pork served)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks @ 1 Utama

Remember in my Friday's post, I mentioned there is a new batch of "makan" places opened in 1 Utama Shopping Centre? Recently, I visited one more as I so wanted to try out their food after hearing all the stories vide the Net about how popular it has been in Singapore.

The Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks is the brainchild of two young Singaporeans who sought to re-create the snacks they found at the famous Shihlin night market in Taiwan. They paid the Taiwanese chefs a five figure sum to learn how to make the snacks for two whole months. Now it's a booming franchise with outlets all over Singapore and the first outlet in Malaysia just opened this month. They sell three snacks; oyster mee sua, XXL Crispy Chicken and Chicken Floss Egg Crepes which are priced at RM4.80+ each.

The place is super tiny and you'll sit around the service counter to slurp down your mee sua. It's near the Tanjung Golden Village cinema so you can pack the crepes in a paper box or the XXL crispy chicken in a bag and eat them at the benches along the shops while waiting for your movie. I had the oyster mee sua which came in a thick soup broth, easy to eat mee sua noodles (they had cut them), some oysters and shredded chicken meat. There is also a chilli sambal they serve you with. I was a bit doubtful about it when I looked at it but it was really yummy stuff and I enjoyed every spoonful of it.



I was still a bit hungry after that so I ordered a chicken floss egg crepe. I thought I'll take a few bites and then pack them home but it was so yummy, I finished it all off. The crepe is a bit like a stretched roti canai except it's crispier and thinner with egg on top of it. They then add the crispy chicken floss and roll them. A sweetish brown sauce is also poured on top that complemented it. Excellent eaten hot and piping from the stove.

I will definitely come back to this place and eat. The only thing I did not try is the XXL Crispy Chicken - I saw them preparing it and it's really huge. They deep fry the chicken and sprinkle some spices on top of it. The only downside of this place is if you plan to eat your mee sua here, it's tiny and cramped. Not too sure if they will extend the back portion but I can envision that during peak hours, it'll be packed and you'll have to wait a bit for the food to be cooked so patience will be a virtue if you plan to eat here.

Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks
Lot S54 (2nd Floor)
1 Utama Shopping Centre (Old Wing)

(Near Tanjung Golden Village cinema)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Be Well Clare - Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB) 23

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all ready to cheer up my best pal, Kiri and his mummy, Auntie Clare after their little incident last weekend. This weekend is very special as I decided to give my little red heart to Kiri since I "heart" him and Auntie Clare a lot. Sorry I am not really looking at the camera as I felt a bit shy telling the world my feelings. Not easy for a kitty to profess her love to someone on the Internet. I wonder how those people do it vide those chat rooms.



I tried to rally my brother and sister to help out but they turned a blind eye to my efforts. All he did was to continue sleeping under his straw hat while my sister had dissapeared for the night. Bah, useless siblings I have!



My siblings may be useless this weekend but all of you rock! as entries have been coming in already and it's not even the weekend yet for some of you overseas. By the way, this WCB is extra special too as everyone can join in even though you are kitty-less.

I am sure Auntie Clare and Kiri will be so pleased and happy when they get back from the hospital. Thanks so much for your efforts and I will do my best to update them as and when they come in.

1. Check out Amy's lovely flowers and get well message at Beauty Joy Food;
2. Check out the cute Babaganoosh with his good wishes at passionatenonchalance;
3. Check out Kalyn's beautiful snapdragons which are beckoning Clare and Kiri to get well soon at Kalyn's Kitchen;
4. Check out Squirt's life story and well wishes at ...slowly she turned... ;
5. Check out Tasha, cake (yum!), flowers and get well wishes at A Few of my Favourite Things;
6. Check out Flotsa in a Berkeley window at Middle-Fork;
7. Check out the kitties, Fridolin and Maruschka at Rosa's Yummy Yums;
8. Check out the Cat who is sad but has lovely flowers for Clare and Kiri at Belly-Timber;
9. Check out Flotsa who is sending Clare and Kiri some virtual ice-cream at Far Cartouche;
10. Check out Earl and Toejam looking so cute they will definitely cheer up Clare and Kiri at So Cal Foodie;
11. Check out the sweetie, Tigger who looks like he can give lots of loving to Clare and Kiri at Shelli's Sentiments;
12. Check out Phoebe and Trina giving cute winks to Clare and Kiri asking them to get well quickly at Indy Foodie;
13. Check out the adorable kitty antics which will bring a smile to Clare and Kiri's faces at Tigers & Strawberries;
14. Check out Macroom who is sleeping away on a very cute chair (my Mum's favourite cartoon character!) at Dispensing Happiness;
15. Check out Gigolo Kitty who is trying to negotiate better terms with Santa this year over at Gigolokitty!;
16. Check out River who is making sure there are no stray doggies around for Clare and Kiri at kitchenmage;
17. Check out Lixue who offers furry cuddles to cheer up Clare and Kiri (extra ones for Kiri as she loves him - I am so jealous but I understand as Kiri is such a hunky cat) at Look Hunny, I Cooked;
18. Check out Aggie who sent a hug, chocolate cake and flowers to Clare and Kiri at kayaksoup;
19. Check out the most adorable kitten fight ever plus candy for Clare and Kiri at Anne's Food;
20. Check out Leo who sends his best wishes at my little kitchen;
21. Check out darling Molly Doodlebug with beautiful heart cookies and a lovely message for Clare and Kiri at Farmgirl Fare;
22. Check out Tanuki who wanted to post himself to Sydney to see Clare and Kiri at A Cat in the Kitchen;
23. Check out Marlin sprucing himself up as he brings S'more Treats to Clare and Kiri to cheer them up at Heather's Space;
24. Check out Maggie sitting in a sink and offering lots of wishes to Clare and Kiri to get well soon at Love and Cooking;
25. Check out Miss Kitty with a lovely get well message and flowers for Clare and Kiri at Culinary in the Desert;
26. Check out Maggie and Wellington offering to go Down Under to see Clare and Kiri at Modern Girls Kitchen;
27. Check out the kitties from France who brought flowers for Clare and Kiri at Lali et Cie;
28. Check out Princess LouLou who sends her royal wishes to Clare and Kiri at Stalking the Waiter;
29. Check out Alicat's former kitties and Spanks with lots of good wishes to Clare and Kiri to get well at Something So Clever;
30. Check out Billy Lee, the cyber kitty who is up to tricks at The food pornographer;
31. Check out Jack and Charlotte who both sent lots and lots of hugs to Clare and Kiri (I want one too!) at My Adventures in the Breadbox;
32. Check out Tyson who will beat up that doggie which tried to hurt Kiri at Food Chronicles (I'm sad about Meggiecat's loss too!);
33. Check out Dale who sends his love and hugs to Clare and Kiri plus apologies for his species at One Hot Stove;
34. Check out Miss Domino who is looking for Clare and Kiri at Farmgirl Fare;
35. Check out Dusty who is concentrating very hard to be worried at bakingsheet;
36. Check out speedy Trixie who offers good wishes to Clare and Kiri at greengirlart;
37. Check out Snoopy who is joining us for the first time at everybody likes sandwiches;
38. Check out Red-Boy who wishes Clare and Kiri well at bunnyfoot;
39. Check out Lyle who offers Kiri a safe place to play at Basic Juice;
40. Alisha and Mattie sends Clare and Kiri well wishes at Playin' Whaley;
41. Check out Shishi, Mel and Spot who all offer well wishes plus good advice to Clare and Kiri at s'kat and the food;
42. Check out Huggy and Buddy who join us from California with well wishes at The Poor Cracklins;
43. Check out Noche offering a rose and wishes to Clare and Kiri at Blog Appetit;
44. Check out the cute picture Rima and Nala sent to Clare and Kiri at Les Carnets de sbmarie.

Lotsa love, hugs and meow kisses

Boo the cat

P/s remember to join the doggies over at Auntie Sweetnicks for Weekend Dog Blogging too!

Dragon-i Restaurant @ 1 Utama Shopping Centre

There has been a slew of new restaurants which recently opened this month at 1 Utama Shopping Centre and one of the new additions is a branch of the Dragon-i Restaurant located at Cititel Hotel, Midvalley. Since it's opening, it's been making waves with the Shanghainese food it offers and I have heard quite a bit about it.



Nope, I did not go to Xian to see the terracota soldiers like Jess did but this is one of the statues that line the entrance to the restaurant. Impressive walkway with the statues on your left and a wall with chinese characters before you reach the service counter to get your table. The restaurant is done up in shades of red and black, soft lightings and a glassed up kitchen so you can see the chefs in action. There is even a window in front of the restaurant so people can peek in when they walk through the mall. (More on that later on)



I had a pretty simple dinner since I was flying solo that night and ordered two must haves in Shanghainese restaurants, the lai mian and the xiao long bao. A plain one was ordered since I was planning to eat it with my dumplings. Since I have eaten at Crystal Jade before, I did a bit of comparison between both of them and based on my opinion, the lai mian is a bit lacking here. The lai mian here is a bit thicker than Crystal Jade and the broth was also a bit tasteless.



Their saving grace was the xiao long bao, little steamed meat dumplings with soup. They were very nice and the meat filling melted in my mouth. They have a slightly different way of making it though, you can't suck through the hole for the soup unlike the Crystal Jade ones so I had to nibble a bit at the bottom to drink the soup.



On the way out, I got reprimanded by one of the waitresses as she told me firmly - no picture taking in the restaurant. Luckily I had all my pictures so I was unruffled with her chasing me away. Then I spied the little window (sorry about the reflections) on the side as two chefs prepared the night's xiao long bao. One chef was rolling out the dumpling skin. Good xiao long bao must have skin which is transculent and fine.



This chef was making the folds for the xiao long bao. It seems there an exact number of folds that you must make for the dumplings. Some swear that it is a total of 18 folds but each restaurant have their different methods.



After the folds are made, he puts in the pre-made filling which mainly consists of meat, stock, soya sauce, sesame oil, spring onions and ginger that is blended. Each restaurant will have their special recipe and portions while some may even add extra ingredients to make it tastier. I couldn't take pictures of him closing the dumpling as his hands were moving too fast. Once done, they will place the dumplings in the bamboo steamer, ready to be steamed when someone places their order.

Side note: More restaurants seem to be opening on the New Wing's concourse area - delicious is moving downstairs to a bigger space and Bakerzin is also due to open next month.

Dragon-i Restaurant
Lot S313A, New Wing

1 Utama Shopping Centre

Tel No: 03 - 7725 8822

(It is located next to Sri Melaka restaurant, almost to the end where MPH book shop is at the new wing)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB) 23

Hi everyone!

I am so so depressed and sad about what happened to Auntie Clare and Kiri last weekend. If you have not heard, Mum said a dog tried to attack Kiri when Auntie Clare was holding him in her arms. He freaked out as all cats would do (I would do the same too) and unintentionally bit and scratched Auntie Clare's arm until it is infected. She has had to stay at the hospital until she gets better. Uncle Casey has been updating Auntie Clare's progress on eat stuff and she may get to come home soon (paws crossed!).

Auntie Susan from Farmgirl Fare and I thought we will host a special WCB this weekend - a get well soon edition for Auntie Clare and Kiri. You can send her flowers, get well cards, chocolate (which always makes anyone feel better), cute little antics from the kitties, food or anything to cheer them up so they get better quickly vide your WCB posts. I wonder what I should make? Must sit down and discuss with my brother and sister as I want it to be very special.

Take lotsa care Auntie Clare and Kiri. E-hugs and positive thoughts from all of us to get well ASAP!

Boo the cat

P/s Auntie Susan from Farmgirl Fare has also written a nice little post too with a picture of cute little hearts. If you don't have a kitty cat, please do join in too as the more the merrier.

Tarbush @ KLCC

Recently, I was in KLCC to have quick lunch with Splashie Boy. We headed towards Suria KLCC and after a few minutes of debating on what to have, we settled for Tarbush that serves Lebanese food in the Signatures Food Court on Level 2. For those who are unfamiliar with Suria KLCC, the food court has different outlets that serve a variety of foods like fast food from McDonalds, beef gyu don from Yoshinoya, Kelantanese food from Kelantan delights, laksa from Laksa Shack and etc.

Besides this food court outlet, Tarbush also offers casual and fine dining around the Ampang area and at the newly opened Starhill Feast Village. It's my first time trying their food out but Splashie Boy was introduced to the food by a colleague of his. He chose to have the Dawood Basha with Rice that is two big lamb meatballs in a tomato sauce. I had a bit of his food and the meatballs is pretty yummy. The portions are huge here so be warned! We wanted a heavier lunch since both of us did not eat any breakfast that day.

I had the chicken briyani with rice which was totally different from our local briyani since it does not have a lot of coconut milk. I love the fresh salad they give with their dishes which is plain but tastes great.



You can also get sharwarma and fattoush salads if you want something lighter. We ate in front of the big glass windows with the fantastic view of the park as that had the best light for picture taking. I wanted to take a picture to show all the non-Malaysians, the KL skyline but Splashie Boy said there will be a reflection. Incidentally, we weren't the only picture taking people at the food court, the girl in the next table took a picture of her Yoshinoya meal. I wonder if she is a blogger too? A quick side note: Rain Nudle House upstairs has closed and there is a sign saying Little Penang Cafe will take over this month. That will be interesting since they are so close to Madam Kwans which serves similar Nyonya food.

Tarbush Restaurant
Signatures Food Court

Level 2, Suria KLCC

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Oreo Cheesecake

Recently I have been in a cheesecake mood, probably because I bought some new springform pans. I spied this free Kraft's recipe from one of my shopping trips at the supermarket and decided to give it a try since it involved no baking. I also had a pack of Oreos and some cream cheese left over from my previous cheesecake and souffle efforts so this was just perfect.

The original recipe is for a lamington tin of 18cm to 28 cm but I halved the portion and used my new 18cm round springform pan instead. Turned out perfectly as I wanted smaller portions since there is only two of us. As it is a no bake cheesecake, you need to keep it chilled at all times or else it melts in our tropical weather and you get a splodge of cheesecake instead. I liked it and luckily it was a tiny portion I made as it's quite rich. Although it's pretty easy to whip up, I think I prefer the baked ones and that will be the next thing on my list of to-dos.

Kraft Philadelphia Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

350 grams Oreo Cookies
80 grams butter, melted
375 grams block Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cubed and softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup thickened cream
3 teaspoons powdered gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
200 grams Toblerone, white chocolate, melted and cooled

Place 250 grams of Oreo cookies into food processor. Process into fine crumbs. Add butter and process to combine. Press mixture into an 18 cm - 28 cm lamington tin lined with cling wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Beat the Philadelphia cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Then beat in the cream. Stir through the gelatine mixture and the melted toblerone white chocolate.

Chop remaining cookies, stir through remaining Philadelphia mixture and pour over the Oreo biscuit base. Cover and refrigerate until set. (I left it overnight) Cut into slices or squares to serve.

Rambutans

I seem to be having all these small little posts this whole week, probably because I am dreading doing this huge one I have from my archives that needs massive editing of photos. I got these rambutans from the neighbour as a thank you gift for looking after the kitties during the festive season. They are pretty unusual and extremely sweet as usually the ones we get are red ones (click on the link to see the red ones and the inside of the rambutan). It's definitely rambutan season again as all the trees in the neighbourhood are full with ripe rambutans.

Reminds me of one of my dad's childhood stories, he went to steal some rambutans from a neighbour's tree with his younger brother and he found out my uncle was colour blind as he kept picking the green ones telling my dad, they are all red and ripe! Needless to say, he was banned from all future rambutan picking trips after that.

Gourmandines - For Food Lovers

I thought I will share with all you food lovers, a great website, Gourmandines.com which I was introduced to by two people, one who knew I was looking for Valrhona chocolate and a fellow foodie. It is run by the people from the French Culinary School in Asia that is based in Kuala Lumpur.

You can get your supplies of Valrhona chocolate in small quantities for home baking and vanilla pods at pretty reasonable prices. They also supply gourmet foods like pasta, cheeses, dairy foods and etc. Not only that, they also have a selection of baking and kitchen utensils. You can also read about their cooking classes they conduct at the Institute which sounds very tempting. Delivery of items ordered with the value of RM150 or above gets free delivery within the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Ampang, Sri Hartamas, Bangsar, Mont Kiara and Damansara. If you can't make the amount, share your purchase with your friends as a few of you will sure be able to spend RM150 in one order.

So for those of you who are cracking your head on what to buy for your friends for Christmas, head over there and order some of the stuff as any food lover with a taste of fine dining will love you for life if you get anything from there. (Ooops, that is a very subtle hint to anyone who wants to get my Xmas pressie this year, I would like a Microplane Grater, Valrhona chocolate plus those vanilla pods!)

Mango Lassi

I made some home made lassi last week and it is so simple. Much better than buying the stuff from the supermarket as you know what goes in. You can also opt to have it sugarless like mine and it tastes just as nice. A lassi is kinda like a milkshake except it is made from yoghurt. If you wish it to be not so thick, you can even add milk (which makes it pretty rich) to dilute it. For me, I prefer adding ice cubes to the mixture to dilute and to chill the lassi.

I usually get my yoghurt from the Indian restaurants and RM1 will get you quite a big portion for one person. Mix about half of the yoghurt (or about half of a small cup of yoghurt from the supermarket) with one ripe mango and a handful of ice cubes to blend. Adjust the ice cubes accordingly if you find your lassi too thick. Sorry for the pretty vague instructions as I kinda threw my ingredients together with no recipe book. Besides mangoes, you can add any other fruits you fancy to make your lassi.

November 2005 Calendar

The holiday season is just round the corner with Thanksgiving in the USA and Christmas. Can't keep up with the holidays as we just seem to have finished partying with Hari Raya and Deepavali. This month is a bit special as there will be a joint IMBB/SHF event with the theme, "Cookie Swap". It's a great idea with the festive season coming up and there is even a prize to be won.

• 7 to 11 November, 2005
  Entertain MeMe - Hosted by Taste Everything Once

• 11 November to 8 December, 2005
  KL International Gourmet Festival
  
  
• 12 and 13 November, 2005, KL Convention Centre
  KL Epicure International 2005
  
  
• 17 November, 2005
  Blog Party #4 - The Gang's All Here: The Holiday Edition
  Hosted by Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness
  
  
• 19 November, 2005
  hay! hay! it's donna hay
  Hosted by Barbara from winosandfoodies
  
• 
  25 - 27 November, 2005
  French Food & Beverage Fair, Bangsar Shopping Centre, KL
  
  
• 25 - 27 November, 2005
  Joint SHF/IMBB - Virtual Cookie Swap
  Hosted by Jennifer from the Domestic Goddess and Alberto from Il Forno

Seared Steak, Pepper and Onion Fajitas

After eating all those traditional Malay dishes, we felt like something completely different so I made some fajitas at home. They were partly inspired by the tortillas which I found ready made from Giant supermarket. Previously, they had ready made flatbreads but they had discontinued them. Now, they seem to have brought in similar flatbreads which have been renamed as tortillas. There are different varieties available; garlic, plain and wholemeal. You just reheat them in a frying pan or the oven and they are ready to be rolled with your fajita fillings.

For the filling, I adapted a recipe I had from Taunton's Fine Cooking magazine. Unfortunately I was unable to rustle up a ripe avocado to make some guacamole but I served it with sour cream and a tomato salsa. Sorry about the picture, I was busy rushing it to the table so it would be piping hot that I hastily plated it and took the pictures in record time. As I had no jalapenos, I omitted those but I did add some mushrooms I had to the mixture. I love the flavours of the filling, very nice and it all went very well together. There was quite a bit to eat too unlike the portions you get at the restaurants so we were extremely full after that meal. We complemented the meal by watching a replay of the NBA match between San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Seared Steak, Pepper and Onion Fajitas

1/2 teaspoon salt
Scant 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly grounded
Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cuimin
Good pinch of cayenne
1 tablespoon canola oil
9 oz New York Steak, approximately one inch thick

1 small yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 teaspoon minced jalapeno
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Combine salt, pepper, cayenne and cuimin in a small bowl. Rub the steak with the seasoning on both sides. Heat oil in a heavy skillet until very hot but not smoking. Put steak in hot pan and sear for three minutes. Turn steak and cook for further two minutes. (Note if your steak is thinner, please reduce the time accordingly). The steak will be very rare but will cook more later. Take skillet off the heat, transfer steak to cutting board and cover loosely with foil to keep warm.

Return skillet to medium heat, add the pepper and onion slices and saute, stirring frequently, until soft about eight minutes. Add the jalapeno and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant, about 1 minute. Slide the skillet off the heat and stir in the lime juice, scraping up any browned bits from the pan. Cover and keep warm.

Trim the fat from side of steak and cut the steak into thin slices. Add slices to the skillet along with any accumulated juices. Toss until well blended. Stir in the chopped cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with warm flour tortillas, sliced avocado(or guacamole), sour cream, chopped tomatoes and cilantro sprigs.

Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB) 22

Hello world!

This is Boo the cat, blogging for the first time on Weekend Cat Blogging(WCB) where cat food bloggers unite every weekend and share photos of their gorgeous kitties with us! If you would like to be included, just leave me a comment with your permalink! and add a "weekend cat blogging" tag to your post!If you would like to participate in those waggy tail creatures, WDB 8 (Weekend Dog Blogging) please go visit the Auntie Sweetnicks and send her an email!

I am so excited on my world debut that I could not sleep the whole night. That is why I woke up early to start on my WCB entry, hope Mum does not hear me booting up the computer in the study and tapping on the keyboard with my paws.

This weekend, Mum is a real meanie. She didn't take any pictures of me in my cutest splendour for my world debut (she mentioned something like, it is good enough you are writing this weekend). I think she is jealous as she left me this picture of her holding a handful of kittens we don't even own! They are the neighbour's kitties which we are babysitting for the week since it's a long holiday here. Luckily they live in the other house as I would have snarled at them since they tried to take my limelight. Mum claims they are super cute - I don't understand her, don't she know I am the super cutest kitty in the world. Don't worry, I will try and persuade Mum with lots of meowing and adorable looks to her to take a nice picture of me this weekend which I will post later.



I did it! I got Mum to take pixs of me - here I am at the computer keying in my friends' details and replying comments.



Yawn! This is hard work, tapping on the keyboard. Time to take a breakie.



I wonder how Kiri is at his grandparents' place while Auntie Clare goes for her wedding party. Hope he is having a rip roaring time sniffing out those new places. My kitty friends from all over the world have started sending in their pictures, so please do visit them.

1. Check out Babe's patchwork kitties at Babe in the City - KL;
2. Check out Macroom who has found a great place to sleep at Dispensing Happiness;
3. Check out Bella and Tasha's cute sleeping habits at A Few of My Favourite Things;
4. Check out sleepy Lucky, the tuxedo cat at the Countess.;
5. Lady is checking out the neighbour's kitties this weekend at Middle Fork;
6. Check out baby Rima playing hide and seek at Les Carnets de sbmarie;
7. Check out Guido with his hot green eyes at Slowly She Turned;
8. Check out Gigolokitty whipping up a love potion at Gigolokitty!;
9. Check out Aggie doing a supermodel pose at Kayaksoup;
10. Check out Rita and Stuart during laundry day at Belly Timber;
11. Check out Edith whose tongue is showing some action at Anne's Food;
12. Check out the snow princess Lixue eyeing those birdies at Look Hunny, I Cooked;
13. Check out Pixel and Billy Lee over at the food pornographer;
14. Check out Barbara's kitties' true confessions at Tigers & Strawberries;
15. Check out Boots busting tires at Heather's Space;
16. Check out Ike and Abe sharing a stool in the Restaurant Widow;
17. Check out Bussi and Lyle having a slumber party at Basic Juice;
18. Check out Le Petit Tigre who loves yoghurt at Lali et Cie;
19. Check out New Cat sitting at the side of the veggie bed (not in it) at Farmgirl Fare;
20. Check out Libby joining us from Shelli's Sentiments; and
21. Check out Max who is a cyber kitty like me from passionatenonchalance

Lotsa love, hugs and meow kisses

Boo the cat

P/s I will be sneaking to the computer throughout the weekend to update my friend's pictures as and when they come in.

Village Park Restaurant

Today, I had planned to blog about a Raya open house I went to yesterday but unfortunately there was not enough light so the pictures turned out grainy. Sigh! Despite the lack of pictures, it was a fantastic spread of food we had plus a wonderful time as we caught up with old friends. Thanks to N & his lovely wife, M who prepared all the yummy food with the help of her servant. (N claims he helped by watching television!) They have a lovely home which we oohed and aahed over (I wonder if M will do some Interior Designing for my new place?). A bit about the food, we had soto (Chicken Soup) with begedel (a kind of potato meat dumpling), prawns, ketupat daun palas, rendang ayam (Malay for chicken rendang), rendang daging (Malay for beef rendang), curry noodles, ketupat (Malay for rice cake), peanut sauce and even home made tapai pulut (Malay for fermented glutinous rice). Everything was yummy and we ate quite a bit of everything. Not too sure if I have any more Raya open houses to go to this whole month but if I do, I will definitely try and get some pictures.

On to today's post that keeps with the Raya theme, it's all about Malay food. This is one of my favourite places to have nasi lemak. Let me clarify one point though, I eat nasi lemak once every few months rather than some who I have heard must have it every day for breakfast so I may have different tastebuds from others.

I really love the nasi lemak from this place, the rice is fluffy and smells of coconut milk. I read that the owner steams it with santan in a wooden rice container. The sambal also gets my thumbs up as it is not too spicy but you can taste the ikan bilis (Malay for anchovies) and onions that has been cooked for about eight hours. Usually they serve it with half of a hard boiled egg plus some fried ikan bilis and peanuts. You can add any other dish from a large selection of dishes but I usually go for the chicken rendang. I love the rendang here which has lots of lemon grass and the sauce is fantastic.



I sat outside so I could take pictures and ordered some Air Bandung to quench my thirst. They do this drink really well here. The combination of the rose syrup and the evaporated milk is just right plus there is a dash of lime juice also.



I was a bit early so some dishes were not all out so I had the sambal petai. Petai are beans which you can get in the jungle and is reknowned for their smelliness. Kinda in the same category of durians so don't eat them if you have a date. It was yummy stuff. The last time I was at this place, they had some wonderful kerabu vegetables but they cook different selections all the time.



Besides the nasi lemak, they also serve nasi kerabu , lontong and nasi dagang. Yet to try all the other dishes as I usually stick to nasi lemak but after reading this review of them, I may just try it out soon. (Note that the link may not work after one week since you have no access to the paper's archives) The place is run by a Chinese couple and usually one of them is around the place running the restaurant and collecting monies. The only slight problem you may have is parking around the area especially during the weekdays as that place is packed since there are so many offices around them. I usually go during Sundays or public holidays so it is easier to get parking. If you do want to try them for lunch during the weekday, park inside the Uptown buildings as they have ample car parks downstairs. The only thing is don't go there alone as I find the car park to be a bit dodgy as it is way too quiet.

Village Park Restaurant
45, Jalan ss21/37
Damansara Jaya
Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 7710 7860

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB) 22 Reminder

Remember to join us this weekend for Weekend Cat Blogging - just leave a comment with your permalink and add "weekend cat blogging" tag to your post. Ain't this black kitty a sweetie? I have pictures of cute kittens this time round which we are babysitting for the festive season and one naughty little kitty doing the write up.

*Updated: For those who are unfamiliar with my comment system, you can use the Haloscan comment on the left side if you are do not have a Blogger account while the right side comments are for Blogger accountholders. If everything is a bit confusing, don't worry, just send me an email at boo_liciouskl@yahoo.com

Lemang @ Taman Tun Dr Ismail

Every year just before Hari Raya Adilfitri starts, the sleepy suburbs of Taman Tun Dr. Ismail will be invaded by these smoke, people and lots of food when the lemang stalls start their festive business. Lemang, a Malay delicacy made from glutinous rice cooked in a bamboo tube over slow fire is a must have during the festivities especially with some rendang (Malay for meat curry in coconut milk and spices).

There was a carnival-like atmosphere around the area with stalls lining the main road leading towards 1 Utama Shopping Centre with cars stopping at the side to buy lemang for their festivities or even non-Muslims enjoying the delicacy.



Who says there is no traffic jam in Kuala Lumpur as everyone has "balik kampung"? (Usually the city is almost empty as people travel to their home towns) There were lots of cars along the main road which had to slow down as people were parked at the side plus they also wanted to drive slowly and have a look at the stalls. Note that this stall at the end was selling flowers and plants for the festive season. As the Kiara Malay cemetery is also nearby, some families will stop by to buy flowers to place at their lost loved ones' grave.



See those rows of bamboo sticks, they all contain the lemang which has been slowly cooked over the fire. Imagine a whole row of stalls each selling the same thing and your mind boggles on which one stall to go to!



There is a kind of carnival atmosphere to the area with so many stalls and some set up their preparation area at the grassy bit at the back of the main road. Here you can see the lemang being cooked over a fire. They stack them up on a rack and the fire will slowly cook the rice. It takes quite a bit of skill to ensure the whole rice stick is cooked. This family even set up a tent just like they are camping for the kids to play and rest while the parents work on making ketupat and lemang to sell at the stalls.



This lady was sitting at the back and making ketupat cases while chatting away. She was so deft in making the ketupat cases from the palm leaves that I had such a hard time focusing on her movements (see how blurry the ketupat case is in her hands). She made those two ketupat casing for my earlier posting. The ketupat will then be filled with rice grains and then cooked in a large pot of boiling water until they are cooked. I had earlier blogged about something similar called ketupat daun palas together with lemang when I found them at a farmers' market before. These ones the lady was making looked more like ordinary ketupat rather than ketupat daun palas which is filled with glutinous rice.



Of all the stalls I saw, this particular one caught my eye as it was not adults serving you the lemang but kids. The whole family was helping out with the dad working the lemang fire at the back. Although the younger boy was not helping, he was fascinated that I took his picture while his brother was busy entertaining customers for their lemang.



I counted four of them and the older ones; the girl was helping dish out the rendang to go with the lemang while the older boy was unwrapping the hot lemang to wrap them in newspaper for people to take home. Maybe people were also attracted to these kids as they were doing brisk business compared to the other stalls.



This is essential for your lemang: rendang which has been slowly cooked with spices, lemon grass (can you spy the shreds?) and coconut milk. There will be two varieties served, beef and chicken which you can pack home to enjoy with plain rice, lemang or the ketupat daun palas.



This is what the lemang looks like inside the bamboo tube. They will split open the bamboo tube to remove the long piece of lemang which is still in it's banana leaf wrapper. Then they will roll it in newspaper for you to take it home. Before serving, you cut them to pieces and place them on a platter together with a bowl of rendang on the side.



Although it was Hari Raya eve, some lemang fires were still going on throughout the night to cater for the latecomers and to finish up their supplies. Once they have finished, they will pack up to go home for the festivities.