Raspberry Jam

Passion, that one expression that I could not explain. It's not a hobby, it's definitely not something I do during my leisure time. Baking/making desserts, photography is when passion allocates time, even when the sink is filled with last night's dinner dirty dishes, eww.. 

Strawberries in June

Some time ago, (and when I say some time, it really means a long while) when strawberries were still in season, my friend tagged me along with her family to do some strawberry picking, up north of Brisbane. I truly enjoyed the process towards picking these fresh, ruby red and huge strawberries.

Like every other baker, I suffer from the same dilemma, it's so fresh, so should I eat it fresh or should I bake something pretty? It would be a crime to torture this beauties in your oven.
And that's my defence towards, laziness.

Nasi Lemak with Prawn Sambal (Malaysian Coconut Rice)

Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaves that I dearly miss, readily on the table as I stroll down the stairs after a Saturday morning sleep-in, taken for granted.
Although I have not experience that in years now, I could still remember the fragrance in coconut rice which is deemed to be very 'lemak' (fat). Yes, you are right, Nasi Lemak translates directly to Fat Rice, yet we all indulge in it.

Ham and Cheese Rolls with Tang Zhong

From summer to winter, I have been wanting to post this. I have made assorted buns several times with this same recipe, and it is great! Except during winter, it takes an extra effort to help the dough rise, and I struggle to tell if they have risen or not. As time passes before me, I have had so much I wanted to write, like I could do a babbling marathon, but now, completely swallowed my words. So here you go, a bun recipe. That's all I have to say after a long silence.

Spiced Pear Cake with Ginger Syrup

I couldn't find a way to summarise this cake. It lives it's name, ginger and dark brown sugar poached pear, baked in a lovely spiced cake, served with warm ginger syrup. Very comforting for cold rainy weather or even in winter, minus the calories.

The ginger-zing is really something you would love to hate, or hate to love. I was inspired by Elin's Red Wine Pear Cake and my favourite, traditional ginger sweet soup (tong shui thats is usually served with glutinous rice ball / tong yuen). The poached pears were so delicate, caramelised and gingery, perfectly paired with the slightly spiced cake. I didn't expect much from the cake, I was wrong, the almond meal gave it a good lift, and the ginger syrup is an absolute highlight. It just all comes into one, and it feels complete.

Tom Yum Fried Rice Vermicelli Noodles

This is my first attempt on tom yum vermicelli noodles. I have to admit I went wild on the tom yum paste, and it was spicy. It was "syok". I was so excited to cook with the tom yum paste I forgot to fry the prawns. So I had to do it separately after frying the noodles, which was absolutely not ideal. The sweet and sourness reminds me of mee siam, one of my all time favourite.

Chocolate Ganache Layer Cake

 

After multiple posts of chocolate cakes, please forgive me. I can't help buying raspberries when I see them on sale, and I really am not sure how to celebrate them apart from a good ol' chocolate cake. Please bare with me. There shall be no more chocolate from now on. 

I have to admit that it is very time consuming to blog, especially practicing a corporate eight to five, coming home to look in the unmanaged fridge and spending the rest of the evening washing cleaning to fill empty stomachs. There's no point of baking, messy slicing, decorating, perfecting, plating, anticipating the best time for photography if I wasn't going to show off. Clearly. You know me. If you don't you probably do now.

Ant's Nest Cake / Kek Sarang Semut

Ant's Nest Cake, 2014

The ant's nest cake is a traditional Malay caramel (gula hangus) cake baked instead of steamed. The sticky and bouncy texture of this dessert should be more closely related to a kuih, than the usual crumbly buttery cake. It resembles the texture of Pak Tong Gou (Steamed White Cake), which I am more familiar of. This is the first time I tasted Ant's Nest Cake myself.

Being an anti-caramel person, surprisingly this cake tastes really good. I like that it is baked to have the exterior dark golden brown, and I promise, it does not taste overly sickly sweet as much as it sounds. The best part is, it hardly needs any beating or mixer involve equipment - which saves a lot of cleaning and dreadful dish washing.

Chicken and Mushroom Pot Stickers

Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom Pot Stickers

Gyoza, Jiao Zi, and Wor Tip, they mean the same, depending on where you come from. The majority of the traditional pan fried dumpling contains minced pork. I have also tried Mandu, korean pan fried dumplings, but not a big fan of it.

My preference is surely the ones I grew up eating at Dim Sum Restaurants (as much as Australians call it "Yum Cha Restaurant", I still find it unusual, cause Yum Cha - (which directly translates to drinking tea) in Malaysia meant going for a Mamak session). On the plus side, if I was going for breakfast, surely I would not queue up for a pot of tea, I am there to eat. Would you judge the Restaurant and be a returning customer if they had poor dim sum but really good tea?

Chocolate Strawberry Cream Cake

Still practising my cake decorating, as my hands would tremble and I'd get a cold shiver just to hear the word icing. There is too much work for little appreciation towards cream and butter. My family would scrape off the buttercream on a cupcake, and the cream between the layers of a cake. Maybe we should not judge a cake by it's icing.

It was made last spring, and I could hardly remember what the recipe was. Basically a sponge cake sliced into three, sandwiched in between with chocolate cream and fresh strawberries, covered up with chocolate ganache. You would definitely be able to work out the rest :)

Chee Cheong Fun

Introducing my favourite breakfast food, chee cheong fun, as fun as it sounds, it's flat rice noodles with fried tofu skin, fish ball, fish cake, and everything else off the shelf, served with slightly sweetened black bean sauce. Basically the hardest part was to put everything on a plate. An absolute no-brainer. Ofcourse I didn't make it up from scratch.

I could have fooled you..

My Deepest Thoughts, 2014

Another year has passed, right before my eyes, when tough had not been suffice to express.

365 days ago, at the very same second, uncertainties filled within me. Was I to stay, or was I to go?
More than I could have ever imagined, to be standing in the center of the road of reality, I find myself caged before decisions and struggling in a long game of endurance.

Being a servant to existence, as mandatory wants shelter, as mandatory needs assurance, as vulnerable takes life for granted, day after day I took a step forward as Hope believed in rainbows behind the clouds. Letting fear take over me. How foolish were people, who left their life of solid stability, the normality, one that I would beg for, the life of so called perfection. And still, today, I am standing where I was, my search seemed like a never ending journey. Seek forgot his intention.

Exhaustion made me a prisoner of my own dreams.

I want too much from life, yet I am not sure which part of me is willing to give back in return.

Faith, Hope, where will you bring me, where will I stand in the next year, at this very same time?

A Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice, Brisbane 2013

This festival brings back lots of memories, never had my family and relatives missed the Winter Solstice. Mum enjoys making colourful, 'kosong' (empty/without filling) tong yuen, glutinous rice balls. The only thing that is different is, it's missing me, and I have to emphasise that Mum calls me, on the phone, to ask me to use carrot juice for colours to the tong yuen. Well, that never happened.

We both have very different takes on culinary.
The only way to resolve, is one of us has to keep our mouth shut depending who's dish it is.