Bits And Pieces

This is our first try making this cake. My daughter has been wanting to bake this cake on her birthday but she held on until last Eidul Adha...since we didn't go back to our kampung, we needed to cook something festive, just to get the feel... Anyway, Red Velvet Cake was not a bad idea at all... the colour is so rich and the taste is heavenly... I love the rich velvety colour right from the start... We decided to make cupcakes instead of the ordinary full-sized one and they are awesome... I just love the colour... And it will definitely be my new favourite cake...

Khal or Vinegar in English is probably one of the oldest and most versatile food item known to us. Nevertheless, I've  never thought that it (dates vinegar) could be used as medicine and what more shocking to me that it has been used as medicinal property since the beginning of Islam (maybe even longer than that) and was one of prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) favourite food. And in an authentic hadith, the prophet (peace be upon him) has said  ''the best condiment is vinegar." Thus, I've tried to find this date vinegar and been asking around. Thanks to a friend who has been taking this dates vinegar and had seen the result, introduced me with this along with some herbs... I googled for more information about the health benefits of it and found it here Dates vinegar has been used for years as both food and medicine in the Middle East and amongst the health benefits of dates vinegar are: Weight Loss : Drinking dates vinegar will help suppress you...

I haven't got the luxury of time to blog lately even though it's school holidays... been busy attending to my children and other things... Just wanna share some of the photos to recap my activities during the holidays... Been practising culinary skills with my daughters...   Attending wedding and meeting old friends, which happened every weekend during the holidays... Went shopping with the family, esp the girls ( the boys would prefer staying home playing their favourite video games) ...

In the last few weeks, I've been drinking a lot of coffee ( and still craving for it... ) but now it's time for me to switch to the good old green tea and make sure that it's in my daily intake (even only once a day...) To start with I have to make sure that it's the first thing that I drink in the morning, so breakfast it is...but I could not just sip the plain green tea with nothing... so it needs a complementary meal to go with.Thus, I need to be a little more creative to start my day than just having a toast or sandwich... Green tea and tiramitsu cake (with coffee as an ingredient) ...with rice porridge  ...with banana pancake (lempeng pisang)  And...Fetuccini with prawn 

The Top 10 Beauty Foods Dermatologist Nicholas Perricone, author of Forever Young, dishes on ten foods to eat to look delicious 1. Wild Salmon: It contains essential omega-3 fatty acids that keep skin supple, hair healthy, and nails strong. 2. Pistachios: Their high levels of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat help nourish the hair and scalp. 3. Watercress: The sulfur found in this peppery green will bring strength and shine to nails. 4. Cinnamon: This spice, rich in antioxidants, stimulates blood circulation, resulting in plumper skin. 5. Olive Oil: It's a healthy fat source that guards against inflammation, which can dull your dermis. 6. Green Tea: Antioxidants called polyphenols help combat complexion woes like rosacea and wrinkles. 7. Turmeric: This spice works as an anti-inflammatory, helping to heal sun-damaged skin. 8. Blueberries: Their phytochemicals (powerful antioxidants) keep fine lines and sagging at bay. 9. Dark Chocolate: Its do-it-all flavon...

So, this is my new obsession for this fasting month. Tepung pelita has always been my all time personal favourite during the month of Ramadan and this year is no exception. Honestly speaking, I've never bothered to think about this kuih in any other months but during Ramadan, it will be the first thing that cross my mind and luckily my hubby as if he could read my mind bought this kuih for four straight days. ( with the exception of the first day since he couldn't find a parking space due to overcrowded and overexcited buyers at the Bazaar).   This is another obsession during Ramadan, Nani loves these spring rolls so much so we decided to make our own yesterday, it tastes a lot better than the ones we bought at the bazaar, plus we can choose our own filling and sauce. The ingredients and the preparations are so easy and it doesn't require much time to prepare...so from now on, we'll do it ourselves..... This whole ...

 Today is my second son's birthday......the second birthday of this month, normally we celebrated his birthday together with Mimi but this year we celebrate them separately, less than one week apart cause he is away at college. The good thing is that we've got to eat two cakes for weeks in the row and this  time is every body's favourite, blueberry cheesecake...

This girl, Mimi had turned 15 two days ago.......Happy sweet 15th birthday, may you are blessed on your special day. Don't be lazy to study as your exam is just round the corner.....all the best to you. Her Chocolate strawberry cake....

It was the third time we were invited to the BBQ at my sister in-law's place in Kota Kemuning. Previously, my  hubby would come up with lots of excuses for not going. Last Saturday, however, he had no choice but to attend it since his eldest brother came all the way from JB to meet his two sons who work in KL. My sis in-law's house has always been a meeting place for the family from my hubby's side. So, she called my hubby and her other brother in Shah Alam to meet at her place. Her newly-bought house is suitable for barbecuing for it has a big compound along with a water feature surrounded by tropical plants, which makes it cool and relaxing (to add to the mood...) She is a SAHM and very lucky indeed to have a husband who can cook like a chef and loves to experiment with food and her children love to help out at the kitchen, so her task of preparing the BBQ became easier as she had a lot of helps. Her husband prepared almost everyth...

Thanks to this ancient cookbook which I bought more than twenty years ago when I was studying at the States, my children learn to cook their favourite dishes. Starting from cinnamon rolls, pizza, scones, cakes and the latest peach pies. The pie is one of my favourites and I have yet to taste their apple pie...... And one more, chocolate chips cookies.... I used to bake all these dishes when they were younger but now I don't feel like baking anymore....luckily I have wonderful children who love to cook and to try something new. They even plan to bake cookies for the coming Hari Raya to try out the new oven bought by dad for mother's day (what an irony!) just wait and see... 

It's a relatively new restaurant in the neighbourhood and it was the first time we went there for father's day celebration yesterday. There are varieties of selection of its famous snow/shaved ice and ice blended drinks....the kids were so excited and wanted to try all of them...in addition, there is also a section where they put all sort of magazines for the customers to read while waiting for the food to arrive. Aan is enjoying his yam snow ice....he didn't even order food since he had a heavy breakfast in the morning Nani and Mimi were both having spaghetti Bolognese  and a bowl of snow ice each with their favourite varieties, strawberry for Mimi and mango for Nani. Most of all we were celebrating dad on his special day ( Happy father's day)....over all, i would say the food here was okay, nothing extraordinary about it but the snow ice was great, the kids were enjoying it and I enjoyed mine..blueberry with lotta nuts....yummy...  

The first time we ate heart-shaped pizza for this year was during Mother's Day lunch at Pizza Hut early this month. The photo that I posted in mother's day post went missing... so here it goes... Then, a couple days ago..Sha who is having her one month break right now tried to make her own pizza as she was jealous of her sisters who had made pizza a few times...the only difference was sha likes to experiment more with her cooking as compared to her sisters who would follow strictly to the recipe.... She made a heart-shaped and a square pizzas.... Her first attempt of a heart-shaped pizza....it was raher ermmmm...but was delicious..  Her square pizza   This is her burger special for me....it was the day after...

Finally, yesterday, their dream came true. The twins were very excited to make their own first homemade pizza (this time with my help coz they didn't know how to shape the crust). Saturday is our grocery shopping dayand  they were more than happy to tag along as they got to choose their own ingredients to be put as topping. They were planning to make seafood pizza so they grabbed two cans of tuna and a big packet crab meat, while I could only picture of mushroom with lotta cheese pizza. It's ok, we make two different varieties, they suggested. Hmm, so clever....   Button mushroom is my all-time favourite. This is how the pizza looked like before it was cooked. The good thing about making your own pizza is you got to invent your own topping and decide the thickness of the crust. So, it was a very thick crust with lotta goodies as topping. Finally, there were three regular size of 'pizza Hut' pizzas for dinner and were all gone almost i...