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Entire home/apt $150 per night Includes: No Smoking TV Air Conditioning Elevator in Building Pool Kitchen Description Fully furnished apartment that fits a family. Its located by the Marina near a beach with beautiful scenery. Port Dickson is also one of Malaysia's tourist destination, near to Melacca a Historic state also not to far to Kuala Lumpur city. The Apartment have 2 rooms with a king size bed and 2 singels. 2 bathrooms, a kitchen complete with a fridge, stove and kitchen utencils, a dining area and Tv/living area all beautifully decorated. We have air conditioners in the rooms and living room. We have a private BBQ facility for you to use. the apartment also have swimming pool facility. Perfect for a family getaway/vacasion. * we can provide city tour for you if required, BUT THE CHARGE S... Read full description.

This is just a 3 day old vanilla essence. the color will change according to age. so don't worry.


DIY Vanilla Essence a non alcohol version.

what you need
11/2 c food glycerin
1/2c warm water
2 vanilla pods
glass jar preferably dark glass jar - i use my old coffee jar (its a clear jar)

1st sterilize the jar then add in the glycerin and warm water. Stir well. then cut the vanilla pod in the middle length wise and scrape the seeds out and put in the glycerin mixture. when you can put the pod in the glycerin mixture too.Stir & mix well. close the lid and shake it, shake it some more. then let it sit there like all preserved should. give them 2-3weeks before using it.

shelf life? i think so long you take care of it i.e not contaminate it with other ingredients while using it it would last you a very long time.

The Great Excuse: Stuffed Eggplant

Anything that is stuffed is a great excuse to use leftovers. well that's my kitchen mantra *lol*
after 'sun drying' my tomatoes i...ok i'll honest, i started to feel lazy again...(its like that with me nowadays, thats why this blog is lacking the attention it deserves) while rummaging my fridge i took out my chicken thighs and thawed it and then i find that i still have 1 eggplant left from my sandwich, an italian gourmet sausage, 2 strips of beef bacon a bit of sour cream and a lump of mozzarella cheese and my almost dried up parsley. and i thought perfect! now i'm in the mood for stuffing stuff hahaha...but eggplant seem to be my victim of choice. i never tried stuffing eggplant before, potatoes yes, tomatoes yes, fruits yes but never eggplant. and apparently according to my friend Celine, stuffed eggplant is common in france...so is this recipe is french? i don't know i just hentam (wing it)*lol*

the out come?

hmm...surprising tasty. so i think yo u can easily use leftover chicken meat or beef or what ever you have in the fridge but i think if you wanted to use sausage, use a gourmet sausage as it is more flavorful. my ingredients are without portion coz its left overs and i just use what i have and estimate a amount so that it'll fit into my eggplant skin nicely.

italian sausage (i use beef)
beef bacon
an eggplant cut in half and rub it with salt and let it sit for a while then rinse.
salt & pepper
1 chopped shallot
1 clove chopped garlic
chopped parsley spring onion
dries thyme
1 tsp sour cream
mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
olive oil

cut the skin off the italian sausage and squeeze the sausage out.
saute shallot and garlic with a bit of olive oil until fragrant then add in the sausage meat. continue cooking until you can see that the shallots and bits of sausage meat is caramelizing. add in herbs stir then remove from heat.

in another pan cook beef bacon with butter until crisp.

mean while brush cut eggplant with butter or olive oil and roast it in the oven until the flesh of eggplant is thoroughly cooked in a 180c preheated oven. this may take about 20-30minutes depending on the thickness of the flesh. brush the eggplant with oil frequently, this will help the eggplant cook faster.

when cooked let it rest fro 5 minutes then carefully scrape the flesh out using a spoon. this should be easy to do coz the flesh of the eggplant is soft and almost mushed. drain excess water from the flesh. then combine it with the sausage mixture. mix well and mesh any lumps from eggplant flesh. then add in the beef bacon and some grated mozzarella. save some for topping.

divide the fillings into 2 equal parts and start filling in the eggplant case. pack it tight. then sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan on top. bake again for another 10 minutes or until cheese melted and crusted....

this can be your made to impress appetizer hahahah~ i'd say its gorgeous! in taste and presentation.

as for the thawed chicken...i made a roasted thigh chicken out of it with coarse mustard and some other stuff...i'll post the recipe in the next N3.

**hmmm just thinking....perhaps this dish will taste a lot better with ricotta cheese instead of mozzarella?

homemade Sundried Tomatoes

Last night i was surfing the net and stumble upon this blog where the writer phrase the glory of sun dried tomatoes, how sweet, flavorful and nutritious it is. It is good on its own, great binging snack and surprise! kids loves it too...and true enough my vege hater son likes this unlikely snack. Sun dried tomatoes have the same nutritional value as the fresh tomatoes they are made from: they are high in Lycopene, antioxidants, vitamin C and low in sodium, fat, and calories. anyway seeing all those pictures of yummy tomatoes *ahem* dried up tomatoes....*shrugs* mmm to be honest i hate raw tomatoes and i can't imagine those people able to just bite into the red plump and juicy tomatoes...yes tomatoes are sweet and sour at the same time i give you that but there's this certain 'raw' taste that i can't seem to swallow...you know what i mean? but when it is cooked correctly i love it to bits...

unfortunately ready made sun dried tomatoes are not easy to find in Malaysia. but lucky for us it is easy enough to make yourself and be proud of it hehehehe~ the method is i presume the same with dried fruits...it make sense huh? ok what i did was...oh wait the ingredients...what you need

* 1kg of bright red ripe tomatoes
* 2clove of garlic chopped
* some dried herbs i use parsley and thyme
* kosher salt or sea salt
* olive oil to brush and some to preserve.

wash tomatoes and then slice them. i divide a tomato (mine was a large tomato) into 4 nice thick slices. slice all tomatoes.
*you wouldn't want to slice it too thinly coz it will shrink A LOT!
then pat it dry and brush them with olive oil and sun dry it for 2-3 days in a row, take it in during the night.
2nd day, you brush the tomatoes again and sprinkle garlic, herb mixture and salt then let it dry again.

We Malaysian are lucky coz the tomatoes can dry up in just 2 days or sometimes 1 1/2day (coz its really hot here) then you can have your snack or preserve it... i was sun drying my tomatoes today until it start raining late afternoon so i have to go for plan B. that is Oven dry tomatoes.

to Oven dry it you need a low low low heat, and let it dry for 1-1.5hrs if you have fan in the oven but if like me my oven don't have that feature so it took me slightly more than 2 hrs.
but today i cheated a bit instead of using 100c i crank it up just abit ooo about mmm 120c then towards the end i crank it up abit more to 135c coz i can't wait to eat coz after sprinkling the herbs and garlic, i can hear my tummy rumbles coz its soooooooooo fragrant!
but if you were to follow my step becareful coz you might burn them instead so set your timer and check on them once in a while and see how they are doing.

PRESERVING SUN/OVEN DRIED TOMATOES

to preserve your homemade sun/oven dried tomatoes, just prepare a glass jar, sterilize it 1st
though then fill those yummie tomatoes up then fill in olive oil until it fully cover the tomatoes.

TIPS

* you can use the olive oil from the preserved to saute whatever coz it'll be infused with flavors (tomatoes, garlic and herbs) or just toss it with pasta or salad with some vinaigrette.

* when you used up your tomatoes refill your olive oil making sure covering the remaining tomatoes

Sweet Secrets with Anna Olson Event by AFC

as promised here are the photos of the Sweet Secrets with our beloved chef Anna Olson....

thats was the emcee...can't remember his name though...

this is the founder of AFC...young huh? he is too a chef (if i was not mistaken)

Anna was chatting with the VIP guest ...chef Wan is one of them...

Banana Caramel Cheese cake

Cuppachino Nanaimo Bar

the Lady Baltimore cake as demonstrated by Anna

That's me having a little chat with Anna

and that's my mom btw...

Me and Chef Mike Olson. He made our brunch that day and i tell ya it was wonderful. I love his Slow roast beef....

p/s: i'll update the pictures again later coz it seems that either blogger or my connection is acting up so ...til next time...enjoy reading / surfing / trying my recipes ^_^

Roast beef fillet with abergine sandwich

i was watching Barefoot Contessa the other day and saw taken by her beef fillet sandwich it seem so simple to make except that she had horseradish something something. well for us Malaysian we can hardly find horese radish anything (not in my town anyway) so with her method i tweeked the
recipe to suit our taste or rather ingredient availability...

and as for abergine or eggplant part...i just thought that it'll be a great addition to a sandwhich so WHY NOT?why not throw that it while we're at it? i know it might sound odd putting abergine in a sandwhich, us Malaysia only use it in a curry based dish but never on a sandwhich...but it works! abergine is a very 'meaty' vegetable i can asure you that you'll love it...even a non vege eating person will love it coz its so good that you don't even think that its vegetable...am i over exagerating things here? well that's how i feel and true enough my non eating vegetable son LOVES it and he's a picky picky eater! so its worth a try...(anything to make the kids eat veges huh?)

you can see Ina Garten version of recipe here. her version have nothing to do with abergine and she had arugula or rocket as her greens...but i don't have that... looked at coldstorage last night and they were out...so i settled for lettuse but look for a good crunchy ones avoid those that turning yellow or mushed leaves (pssst check the bottom of the packaging and see if it is any good, don't just look on the surface or you might be fooled)

anyway here's my version of it... you need:-

Roast Beef fillet with abergine sandwich:-
2-3pound of fillet of beef trimmed and tied
1tsp corse Dijion mustard
2tsp fresh coarsly grounded blackpepper
2tsp of kosher salt or sea salt (this seem alot but its the only flavor the beef will have ;) )
a table spoon of butter - room temp
a set of sliced sandwhich bread lightly toasted. - i use wholemeal rustic bread
1 round abergine
lettuse or arugula
alfalfa
a slice of cheddar cheese or any cheese you like... ^_^

the beef fillet once rubbed with butter and dijion mustard mixture

already seasoned with salt and pepper

20minutes later....you can see how juicy it is. its still slight under cook which is good...a touch of pink in the middle...at this point, let it rest for another 15-20 minutes (the beef will keep cooking while resting and then the beef will be nice and tender and juice mmmm mmmm~)

mix butter and dijon mustard well then rubb it on the beef fillet (pat it dry first before rubbing it in, this will ensure that the butter sticks) then season it with salt and blackpepper. and roast it in the oven for about 20 minutes in a 190C preheated oven.

then the most important step in beef roasting is to let it REST for another 15-20minutes, oh don't forget to cover it with aluminium foil when resting it.

meanwhile...for the abergine:-

slice a round abergine thickly about 1/2 an inch or you can do it thicker. then rub it with salt let it sit for a minute or two, this will draw the slight bitterness of the abergine out. then rinse it and then pat it dry. spread the leftover mustard butter mixture and start grilling. a couple of minutes each side then season it with a bit of salt and we are done.

Sandwhich dressing:

1tbs plain yogurt
1tbs sour cream
1 tsp lemon juice
1tsp smoked powdered paprika
1tsp honey
a pinch of salt and b/pepper.

just combine all and ready to use. don't worry about the paprika it'll just give you a hint of heat.

isn't it gorgeous..i wish that you can smell this...

Assemble your sandwich, starting with spreading butter on your toast. this will prevent the toast being soaked by the dressing later. then layer in the cheese then the abergine then the cheese again then the lettuse/arugula (arugula taste A LOT better than lettuse). drizzle in the dressing....(my mouth is literally watering right now) then the sliced beef...i like to slice it rather thin so that i can have more than 3 slice in a sandwich plus its easier to eat but you cut it any how you like... then top it with alfalfa and drizzle in the dressing again and end it with another toast. Ahhh~ that's a handful of sandwich and though its seem simple but it is as filling as it should be. have it with corn on a cob on the side or a simple potatoe salad and you are set...

Assembling the sandwich....mmm yummy!

tah dahhhh~

Brunch with Anna Olson

Anna and her husband...such a sweet couple. she's explaining on how to take a good picture...lol

it was quite a turn out

this is me and my mom

Oh my GOD...yesterday i went to a brunch with Anna Olson....its an AFC even but anyway it s awesome she made us a whole stretch of desserts mostly from her book sugar and another cup of sugar...and the brunch itself was done by her husband Michael Olson. we had slow roast beef which is delightfully scrumptious, Cod with risotto, goat cheese terrine errr...i can't remember the names of the food but its all delicious... the 300+ ticket is all worth it.

And as for Anna, she is soooo witty and funny and also she is so slim & slander i mean when you see her in sugar and fresh she doesn't look that slim but in real life she is like stick thin...we were pleasantly surprise. btw i went to the brunch with my beloved mom and she didn't want to go coz she said that it wasn't her thang but when she we arrive there she got really excited coz she got to take a picture with Anna and chef Wan...yup he was there too as a VIP guest. if you are wondering who is chef Wan, he is Malaysian top celebrity chef...he's pretty famous ;)

oh oh enough blabbering...i am soo happy that i was able to met Anna Olson and her husband in person coz i'm a HUGE fan...


this is what i've gathered from the menu :

Lunch Menu at the Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur+

Appetiser

Beet & Goat Cheese Terrine

With Grapefruit and Pistachio

First Course

A choice of Seafood in Parchment Parcels

OR

Mushroom Bisque++

Main Course

A choice ofSlow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Maple Onion Cream,

Potato Perogies and Roasted Root Vegetables

OR

Grilled Cod with Tomato Vinaigrette

With Lemon Risotto and Asparagus with Avocado Cilantro “Butter”

OR

Spinach, Corn and Herb Stuffed Pepper with Sweet Pepper Coulis++

Cheese Course

Walnut, Fig & Brie Tart

With Frisée Salad

Lunch Demonstration Dishes

Lady Baltimore Cake

Banana Caramel Cheesecake

Cappuccino Nanaimo Bars

***sorry, i have loads of pictures here but i can't resize it therefore i'm having problem uploading those pictures...but no worries i will do it as soon as i figure out how to resize it heheeh***